Summary
- The 472-seat Boeing 777-300ER is Air France's highest-capacity equipment.
- While its network is widespread, it is primarily deployed to French locations in the Caribbean and Indian Ocean from both Paris Orly and Paris CDG.
- Miami sees it up to five times weekly this winter.
Air France has 43 777-300ERs, the first of which was delivered 20 years ago, in 2004. There are four different configurations, with seats varying from just 296 (very premium) to a whopping 472 (very leisure). While the latter is right up there among the world's highest-capacity 777s, it is surpassed by, for example, Southwind (with up to 550 seats), All Nippon (up to 514), Royal Fleet (492), and Nordwind (up to 486).
The airline's 472-seat aircraft
According to ch-aviation, Air France has 12 777-300ERs in a three-class, 472-seat configuration. There are 14 seats in business class (1-2-1 layout), 28 in premium economy (2-4-2), and a massive 430 in economy (3-4-3).
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Montreal is number one for the equipment in winter, while Toronto is in summer.Where they're flying this January-August
Based on examining what Air France has submitted to Cirium and subject to change, its January-August schedule is as follows. Obviously, the markets to which the aircraft fly revolve around leisure or visiting friends and relatives (VFR) demand. There is a significant emphasis on French locations in the Caribbean and the Indian Ocean, which are considered domestic.
While the very high-capacity aircraft are very heavy and have a higher trip cost than lighter alternatives, they have a lower seat-mile cost, which is crucial for such leisure/VFR markets. This helps to drive the much higher passenger volume needed to offset the lower premium demand.
While the 472-seat equipment is exclusively deployed on some routes, it usually coexists with other 777-300ER layouts and, in some cases, different aircraft types entirely. It can get complicated, with the number of services by the variant sometimes varying per week and, not surprisingly, by season. The following summarizes what is happening in the analyzed eight months:
- Paris Orly to Fort-de-France: daily
- Paris Orly to Pointe-à-Pitre: four weekly to daily
- Paris Orly to Réunion: daily
- Paris CDG to Abidjan: February 9th
- Paris CDG to Antananarivo: two to three weekly from April 9th
- Paris CDG to Bangkok: January 19th, 26th, February 2nd, April 13th, 20th, 27th
- Paris CDG to Cancun: three to six weekly
- Paris CDG to Dubai: twice to five weekly until March 18th
- Paris CDG to Fort-de-France: three weekly to daily
- Paris CDG to Havana: three weekly from February 16th
- Paris CDG to Mauritius: three times weekly until March 1st
- Paris CDG to Miami: weekly to five weekly; ends on March 29th
- Paris CDG to Montreal: daily to 11 weekly
- Paris CDG to Mumbai: daily in winter, then reduced to weekly; ends May 25th
- Paris CDG to Pointe-à-Pitre: daily
- Paris CDG to Quebec City: three weekly from June 14th
- Paris CDG to Réunion: daily
- Paris CDG to Santiago de Chile: February 15th and 22nd
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Have you flown Air France's 472-seat 777s? If so, share your experience in the comments.