FRANCE: Air France To Make 3 Weekly Flights To Costa Rica

Air France will offer from this winter one additional flight to San José, Costa Rica on departure from Paris-Charles de Gaulle.

A service connecting San José on departure from Paris-Charles de Gaulle will also be available to customers for the first time during the summer season as from 1st April 2018.

With Air France’s increased frequencies between Paris-Charles de Gaulle and San José by Boeing 777-300 (468 seats), Air France will offer 2,808 seats per week this winter thanks to 3 weekly services.

Flight times operated (in local time) during the 2017-18 winter season -

AF430 : leaves Paris-Charles de Gaulle at 13:25, arrives in San José at 17:55;

AF431 : leaves San José at 20:15, arrives at Paris-Charles de Gaulle at 13:30 the next day.

Flights operated on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays on departure from Paris.

Year-round service to San José

Air France will pursue this dynamic after winter by offering the Paris-Charles de Gaulle – San José service for the first time during the summer season with 2 weekly flights operated by Boeing 777-200 (312 seats) as from April 1, 2018.

Flight times operated (in local time) as from April 1, 2018

AF430 : leaves Paris-Charles de Gaulle at 13:10, arrives in San José at 16:50;

AF431 : leaves San José at 19:10, arrives at Paris-Charles de Gaulle at 13:45 the next day.

Flights operated on Wednesdays and Sundays.

Additionally, Air France customers will be able to reach San José with 2 daily flights in summer and winter operated by Copa Air Lines, as a continuation of the services connecting Paris-Charles de Gaulle to Panama City operated by Air France.

Passengers thus benefit from a single ticket for their entire trip, a wider choice of flights to Costa Rica, baggage transfer to their final destination and the possibility to earn Miles on all code-shared flights.

A leader in Central and South America and the Caribbean in terms of seat capacity, Air France-KLM serves 25 destinations in this region and offers up to 260 weekly flights on departure from Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Amsterdam-Schiphol.

FRANCE: Air France’s New Travel Cabins Go To Santiago de Chile

Passengers travelling with Air France to Santiago de Chile from Paris-Charles de Gaulle are to enjoy the Company’s new travel cabins on certain flights.

As from 20 April, certain Air France flights connecting Paris-Charles de Gaulle to Santiago de Chile will be equipped with the new travel cabin for optimum comfort. On board, customers will discover a genuine cocoon in the sky in the Business cabin, as well as completely redesigned seats in Premium Economy and Economy class.

There will be in total 7 weekly flights connecting Santiago de Chile to Paris-Charles de Gaulle by Boeing 777-200 and 777-300.

Flight schedules (in local time) during the 2017 summer season:

AF 406: leaves Paris-Charles de Gaulle at 23:40 and arrives in Santiago de Chile at 09:15 (08:15 from 14 May to 12 August) the next day.

AF 401: leaves Santiago de Chile at 13:15 (12:15 from 14 May to 12 August) and arrives at Paris-Charles de Gaulle at 08:05 the next day.

In the Business cabin, the seat adapts to the shape of each individual, from seating position to a real 2-metre long bed. At the heart of the curved structure, each passenger creates their own space, enveloping and protective, according to their desires.

The seat’s soft foam is designed to offer impeccable quality of sleep. With a soft duvet and XXL-sized feather down pillow, everything has been designed to ensure peaceful sleep among the clouds. Each passenger has a wide 16-inch (41 cm) HD touch screen.

In Premium Economy, more comfortable seat cushions and a multi-position footrest further enhance this travel cabin. 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. There are also new features such as electric sockets and headphone holders.

As far as inflight entertainment is concerned, the HD touch screens are much larger: 12 inches in Premium Economy and 9 inches in Economy. With movies, games, music and much more, over 1,000 hours of programmes are available on demand.

Air France has a mini website dedicated to its brand new cabins and the destinations they serve. Go to best.airfrance.com to discover this new travel concept before even boarding your flight.

Air France continues to improve comfort on board. By the end of the summer season, Air France will offer 44 Boeing 777 equipped with the latest travel cabins on its long-haul network; 19 Boeing 777-300s and 25 Boeing 777-200s – the entire Boeing 777-200 fleet, as well as 3 Boeing 787s. They will fly to 42 destinations around the world:

– The Air France hub at Paris-Charles de Gaulle;
– North America: Atlanta, Boston, Houston, Los Angeles, Montreal, New York-JFK, Papeete, San Francisco, Toronto, Vancouver, Washington;
– South America: Buenos Aires, Cancun, Cayenne, Havana, Lima, Montevideo, Panama City, Santiago de Chili, Sao Paulo;
– Africa: Abidjan, Accra, Bamako, Bangui, Douala, Johannesburg, Cairo, Libreville, Luanda, Yaoundé;
– Middle East: Dubai, Beirut;
– India: Bangalore, Bombay.
– Asia: Beijing, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Osaka, Shanghai, Singapore, Tokyo (Haneda and Narita airports).

UNITED KINGDOM: Heathrow Was Busiest Airport In 2016

Travellers with a habit of arriving at the airport at the very last second, pay close attention to the latest list of the busiest airports in Europe.

London Heathrow was the busiest airport in 2016, serving 75.7 million passengers, according to statistics from the European airport trade association, ACI Europe. That was far ahead of Paris-Charles de Gaulle at 65.9 million and Amsterdam-Schiphol at 63.6 million. Frankfurt retained its position as fourth busiest, followed by Istanbul-Atatürk. This year set a new record for airport travel in Europe, with more than two billion passengers travelling through airports on the continent.

Overall, passenger traffic around Europe grew about 5%, with low-cost carriers driving much of the increase in traffic. The increase in low-cost flights – often landing in smaller or secondary airports – led to a lot of growth in those kind of facilities, like Keflavik (Reykjavik) with an increase of 40.4%, Berlin (+36.7%), Sofia (+21.8%), Bucharest (+18.3%) and Krakow (+18.1%).

The fastest-growing airports for passenger traffic are centred in Eastern Europe, with Oradea, Iasi, and Bucharest BBU in Romania at the top of the list. Oradea, a city in the northeast near the border with Hungary, saw its passenger traffic grow by an astounding almost 500%. The Romanian cities were followed by Ostend, Belgium and Palanga, Lithuania. Iceland’s Keflavik Airport saw an incredible increased in traffic as well, with a 66% increase in passenger traffic in December 2016, compared to the same month 2015.

Around the world, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International airport is the busiest. According to 2015 statistics, London Heathrow is the sixth busiest airport worldwide, while Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport came in ninth. The busiest airport for international passengers in 2016 is Dubai Airport.

FRANCE: Air France US to Paris Flight Diverted After False Threat

A flight from San Francisco headed for Paris has been diverted.

Air France said an anonymous threat which led it to divert to Montreal its flight AF083 between San Francisco and Paris on Tuesday was a false alert.

"After a full security search, false alert confirmed by local authorities following an anonymous threat," the carrier said in its Twitter account.

The plane had taken off for Paris again.

Security officials worldwide have been on high alert since Islamic State militants claimed responsibility for attacks in Paris last month that killed 130 people.

Flight AF083 from San Francisco to the main Paris airport of Charles de Gaulle touched down just before midnight local time on Tuesday (Tuesday afternoon NZT) in Montreal, the firm said.

"Local authorities will begin checking the plane, passengers and baggage," Air France said.

"An investigation will be carried out by the authorities to identify the origin of the alert," added the airline, which apologised for the "inconvenience and delay" to its passengers.

Top 50 Busiest Airports In The World

Below are the Top 50 busiest airports in the World for 2012

The tables above show the number of passengers for the top 50 busiest airports in the World for last year (2012).

Airport Information Index:

1. The busiest airport are ranked depending on the number of passengers flying to or from each airport.

2. Passenger may only be catching connecting flights from an airport to another destination.

3. Passenger Number data is related to the Airport Council International estimated full year figures for 2012.