Air France to launch schedule service to Wuhan

“This 5th destination in China Mainland strengthens the AIR FRANCE position in this fast growing market. From Europe, AIR FRANCE KLM Group has the largest destination portfolio on Greater China (China, Hongkong and Taiwan). AIR FRANCE KLM’s growth in China has become one of our Group’s strategic assets. It makes our global network and our service offer even more attractive and clearly contributes to strengthening Franco-Chinese relations”, said Bruno Matheu, executive vice president Marketing, Revenue Management and Network for AIR FRANCE KLM.

This was announced on November 5th at Wuhan, during the signing ceremony of a cooperation agreement between AIR FRANCE and the Municipality of Wuhan.

Situated at the crossroads of central China and at equal distance from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, Wuhan is a transportation hub for air, railway as well as ferry traffic. Capital of the Hubei, with a population of 9 million inhabitants, Wuhan is an energetic city, a commercial centre of finance, industry (especially automotive), trade and science, with many international companies located here. Having scientific, technological and educational institutions such as Laser City and the Wuhan University, the city is also an intellectual centre.

The new service will be operated three times a week. Flight AF132 will depart from Paris-Charles de Gaulle on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, returning from Wuhan the following day.

The return flight, AF139, will depart from Wuhan Tianhe International Airport on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, arriving in Paris-Charles de Gaulle on the same day.

Flights will be operated with Boeing 777-200ER equipment, which can seat up to 309 passengers: 35 in Business, 24 in Premium Voyageur and 250 in the Voyageur/Economy cabin.

During the Winter 2011 season, the AIR FRANCE KLM group is operating 80 flights a week to eight destinations in Greater China ( Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Chengdu, Hangzhou, Xiamen and Taipei). This makes the Group the leading airline flying passengers between Europe and China. AIR FRANCE KLM also operates 31 flights weekly under code-share agreements with its China Eastern and China Southern partners.

Flight schedules, starting from 11 April 2012

Paris-CDG – Wuhan: AF 132 – Departure at 16:20 – Arrival in Wuhan the following day at 08:55, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays
Wuhan – Paris-CDG: AF 139 – Departure at 11:30am – Arrival at Paris-CDG the same day at 17:00, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays