Air France no longer will fly Airbus A380 aircraft, the carrier announced on Wednesday.
The carrier already had planned to phase out the aircraft type, the world's largest passenger aircraft, by 2022, but the Covid-19 crisis sped up the process. Air France currently owns five A380 aircraft and leases four more, and it will replace the aircraft with Airbus A350 and Boeing 787 aircraft. The carrier is the first operator of the aircraft type to fully retire it, and Airbus is phasing out its production.
Meanwhile, Air France this week announced it was "progressively increasing" its flight schedule, which had been operating between 3 percent and 5 percent of its usual level. Through the end of June, the carrier is restoring its schedule to about 15 percent of its usual capacity, operating 75 of the 224 aircraft in its fleet. The restored network will concentrate largely on destinations within France, French overseas departments and major European cities.