Air France Debuts Airbus 380 Service

Air France on Saturday became the first European carrier to commercially fly the Airbus 380, inaugurating service on the aircraft from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport to Paris' Charles de Gaulle International Airport. Effective this week, the carrier said the aircraft begins operating a daily departure from both sides of the Atlantic, replacing two dailies served by two aircraft.

The 538-passenger, three-class, double-decker aircraft preserves the net capacity offered by an Airbus 340 and a Boeing 777-200, which previously operated between New York and Paris.

Air France said the A380 offers "a 20 percent reduction in operating costs" and estimated that each A380 would save Air France up to €15 million annually. The carrier has 11 more on order.

With its next delivery, Air France plans to launch A380 service on its Paris-Johannesburg route in February. The carrier expects to deploy the following A380 on the Paris-Tokyo route, said CEO Pierre-Henri Gourgeon last week, "if we can sort out all the legal traffic rights issues."