Air France has received an Airbus A380 mega jumbo as the first airline in Europe. Three other airlines have previously taken possession of A380s: Singapore Airlines, Emirates and Qantas
Its inaugural flight will take place on November 21, and it will start commercial flights between Paris and New York on November 23.
Air France will be the first airline to offer A380 services on transatlantic flights. A second A380 will be used for the Paris – Johannesburg, South-Africa route winter 2009-10. Air France has ordered a total of twelve A380s.
In the Air France configuration the A380 will have three classes:
• La Première-First – 9 seats on the main deck
• Affaires-Business – 80 seats on the upper deck – and
• Voyageur- Economy 449 seats spread over the two decks,
providing space for a total of of 538 passengers.
So while La Premiere/First class does look mighty comfy, there will be no suites on the Air France A380, like we have seen on the A380s of the other airlines.
The picture below illustrates the Achilles heel of the A380; the logistics nightmare of moving almost 600 people in and out of the plane reasonably quickly.
