New flavor, comfort, entertainment in flying rolled into one

Patrick Roux, senior vice president Asia Pacific at Air France-KLM.

Mergers come and go but the partnership between Air France and KLM Royal Dutch, established in 2004 and creating one of the world’s largest carriers, is proving to be worthwhile in every essence of the expression.

More comfort, more attention to detail and more pleasure are three priorities underpinning Air France-KLM’s commercial strategy and its “Best & Beyond” marketing campaign.

The company also has a single objective, which is to offer the best product on the market and make a difference with the service.

Moving upmarket

The first phase in the carrier’s upmarket move is to better serve all of its customers and Air France is unveiling its new offer in economy and premium economy cabin classes.

The new business and La Premiere offerings will follow in 2014. The first flight equipped with the new Air France cabins will operate in the summer of 2014.

In economy class, there is a new fully-revised seat, with more legroom, a new seat cushion, more comfortable headrests and a wider tray table. The seat has been ergonomically-redesigned for optimum comfort. The seat also features new functionalities, including an electric socket, headphone holder and more.

Traveling on flights operated by Air France-KLM means the best of both worlds, for adul.

In premium economy, more comfortable seat cushions and multi-position footrests further enhance the cabin class launched in 2009, and praised by customers.

As for entertainment, choosing a program has never been as quick and easy. Wide touch screens with high definition images are now available, offering over 1,000 hours of music, movies, TV series and many other programs available on demand.

The meal service has also been upgraded, with a second hot dish and new gourmet offer such as candies and ice-cream to make the trip even more pleasant and enjoyable.

Available on board since Sept. 1, 2013, the new dining menu is presented in eco-concept tableware created by the Catalan designer Eugeni Quitllet.

The little ones with customized meals, entertainment and amenities.

Something for families

Families and particularly children are at the heart of Air France’s attention. Organic produce adapted to the tastes of infants and young children, new tableware and a selection of new games ensure they enjoy the flight in a fun way.

And, from the summer of 2014, Air France will gradually refurbish 44 Boeing 777 airplanes in its long haul fleet with these new seats and in-flight entertainment systems.

The company will soon unveil its future business class. In April 2014, the entire Best & Beyond project will be unveiled around the new La Premiere cabin.

Best & Beyond is an emblematic transform 2015 project, representing an investment of over 500 million euro in new products offered by the company.

“Its ambition is to be at the very best level in terms of products and make a difference with optimum attentive customer service,” Air France executive Bruno Matheu said.

“To support this move upmarket, a new, simpler and more reactive commercial organization was set up in July 2013. These new products and services will constitute major competitive assets in our commercial strategy” said Patrick Roux, senior vice president Asia Pacific at Air France-KLM.

New economy seats

As part of the ambitious program, Air France is launching its move upmarket by unveiling its new economy seat. Shortly to be installed on board its long-haul aircraft, the seat offers additional space and new functionalities. The company’s ambition is to ensure each of its customers travels in optimum comfort.

In designing this seat, Air France consulted ergonomists and customers in order to offer a product in line with their expectations.

With this first major chance in 10 years, this new long-haul economy seat constitutes concrete proof of Air France’s move upmarket for all.

The new seat of contemporary design offers more legroom, thanks to its ergonomic design. For greater comfort, Air France has worked on improving the seat pan and seatback and designed new seat cushions. Wide soft headrests, which can be raised with movable wings, can be adjusted to suit individual tastes.

Extensive entertainment

Cinema, games, music, TV series and many other programs make the trip a genuine moment of pleasure. With over 1,000 hours of programs available on demand, the contents of this new in-flight entertainment system have been significantly enhanced.

Customers notably benefit from an extensive movie selection. Each month, the company renews its entertainment offer, and pays particular attention to its young passengers, who can select from a wide selection specially designed for them.

Below each screen, a USB port allows passengers to recharge a mobile phone. It can also be used to look at photos, listen to personal music or even read pdf documents.

Since this autumn, Air France passengers have been able to enjoy their films as well as the entire in-flight entertainment offer as soon as they board to when they arrive at their destination.

All these and more are at customers’ disposal on KLM’s night flight which departs everyday at 00:55 a.m. from Incheon and arrives at 4:45 a.m. in Amsterdam. The plane departs from Amsterdam at 9:20 p.m. and arrives in Incheon at 3:40 p.m.

KLM operates a daily flight on the Incheon-Amsterdam route using a Boeing 747-400 aircraft. Air France runs two daily flights between Incheon and Paris, using Boeing 777-200 and Boeing 777-300 planes.