INTERVIEW 'Air France offers best of France'

Antoine Pussiau, Air France's senior vice president of Asia Pacific, poses for a picture before an interview with The Korea Times at the airline's business lounge at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, May 16. Korea Times photo by Kim Hyun-bin

Air France's average load factor on Incheon-Paris route reaches 90%

By Kim Hyun-bin

PARIS ― Air France has been successful in attracting customers from all over the globe and Korea is no exception, as the airline enjoys an average 90 percent of the passenger load factor between Incheon and Paris.

The backbone of the airline's success comes from differentiating its products and services to fit the French way of life, said the carrier's senior vice president.

“We try to give the best of France. We are bringing the French feeling and touch onboard. We have this flavor, which is very unique, what France represents. It is what our customers want,” Antoine Pussiau, Air France's senior vice president of Asia Pacific, said during an interview with The Korea Times at the airline's business lounge at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris.

In addition, Air France is the only airline that offers French red and white wine and champagne for free in the economy class, as it believes traveling should be an “exceptional pleasure.”

Despite the French ambience flowing onboard, Pussiau says the airline has localized parts of its services to provide more comfortable and meaningful flights for Koreans.

“In Korea, we sell 60 to 65 percent of our tickets to Korean customers. We keep our Korean flavor, we have our Korean interpreters onboard, movies and Korean food,” he said. “We also offer free messaging onboard for all customers using instant messaging applications including KakaoTalk and send texts to your colleagues and family.”

Local customers can even purchase tickets and ask questions on KakaoTalk, which will be answered within an hour.

“We are the first to offer KakaoTalk service in Europe and let customers buy tickets on Kakao. If you are looking for your lost baggage, you can write to our people on Kakao and we will answer within one hour. It also gives information about the luggage where it is in real time,” he said.

Air France has always been seeking new opportunities for growth, especially in the Asia-Pacific region, as it is one of the fastest-growing commercial aviation markets, he said.

To meet the rise in demand, Air France has placed three additional weekly flights from Incheon for the summer peak season, which runs through Oct. 25, offering 10 flights a week. But in the future the airline aims to provide two daily flights.

“What we decided, obviously is to test the market; adding more capacity will bring more passengers, so usually we start with three flights a week and we will try to grow to three, four, five and someday we will have two daily flights,” Pussiau said.

“Whenever we see a new opportunity somewhere, we will seize it by increasing flights and launch new destinations.”

The airline plans to enhance its competitive edge in the Asia-Pacific region through partnerships and codesharing with different airlines.

“What we have been working a lot during the last years is to develop partnerships in the region to try to combine both our European DNA and the Asian knowledge and approach our customers,” he said.

“We are in a partnership with Korean Air, where we exchange seats on our flights. It's for the customers to have more time channels. Every day we have two time channels: one is Air France and the other Korean Air. Partnerships are important, and we can combine the advantages of two airlines.”

Air France was the first European carrier to offer premium economy class in 2009, and offers a wide variety of benefits including 130-degree seat recline.

“We also give Sky Priority for check-in and boarding and also for the immigration and security in Paris. It is a privileged service and we are the only airline that offers Sky Priority to premium economy passengers,” he said.

Among all the benefits and perks from taking Air France, the most important factor is the airline's global network and connectivity, according to Pussiau.

“We have an extensive network from Charles de Gaulle. We fly to 318 destinations in 118 countries. When you fly with Air France, you can access all these cities. Our network is one of the strongest in the world,” he said.