LYON SAINT-EXUPERY: AIR FRANCE'S LEADING EUROPEAN REGIONAL HUB

Transcription

1 LYON SAINT-EXUPERY: AIR FRANCE'S LEADING EUROPEAN REGIONAL HUB 1/14

2 CONTENTS THE AIR FRANCE HUB IN LYON CELEBRATES ITS 10TH ANNIVERSARY (PRESS RELEASE) KEY DATES ORGANIZATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE: PUTTING PASSENGERS FIRST AIR FRANCE IN RHONE-ALPS, AUVERGNE AND BURGUNDY, PROVIDING A SOLID, SUSTAINABLE BASE IN THE REGION AIR FRANCE'S INTER-REGIONAL ROUTE STRATEGY BRIT AIR REGIONAL 2/14

3 Lyon, 26 November 2007 THE AIR FRANCE HUB IN LYON CELEBRATES ITS 10TH ANNIVERSARY Christian Boireau, Air France Executive Vice President French market, Bruno Matheu, Air France Executive Vice President Marketing and Network, and Guy Mathiolon, President of the Aéroport de Lyon Supervisory Board, were present at the tenth anniversary celebration of the Air France hub in Lyon, which began operating on 27 October The event illustrates the economic growth of the Rhone-Alps region and its opening up to international activity. It falls at the same time as Air France and Delta's announcement a few days ago of the July 2008 launch of a non-stop Lyon-New York flight. In addition, three new European services have just opened: Lyon-Birmingham, Lyon-Florence and Lyon- Hamburg. In a context of increased competition in Lyon, Air France is also adapting its schedule by following an offensive strategy on potentially profitable routes. As a result, capacity will gradually double this winter on the Lyon-Barcelona, Lyon-Madrid, Lyon-Rome and Lyon- Venice routes. In addition, capacity will be increased by approximately 30% on the Lyon- Bordeaux and Lyon-Toulouse routes. Along with these developments, Air France is launching very attractive fares: for example, Lyon-Barcelona and Lyon-Madrid starting from 79 roundtrip, tax included*, with a promotional fare now being offered at 69 roundtrip, tax included. To finance these investments, the Company has had to discontinue its loss-making routes: starting in early 2008, the Lyon-Casablanca route will close; one flight per day will be maintained on the Lyon-Orly route to coordinate with connecting flights to and from the French Caribbean, which represents significant traffic departing from the Rhone-Alps region. In this way Air France is demonstrating its commitment to strongly supporting the Lyon hub, in the framework of a clear, economically sound strategy. *excluding service charges 3/14

4 The Air France hub in Lyon is based on an original formula offering three daily connecting banks: morning, midday and evening. 274 daily flights link up 45 cities in France, Europe and North Africa. All totalled, passengers can choose every week from among 6,300 connecting opportunities. Throughout the IATA year 2006/2007, Air France welcomed 3.5 million passengers to Lyon; 834,000 of these were transit passengers. This figure has increased fourfold in ten years. Lyon, Air France s leading European regional hub, is therefore a unique example in Europe of a hub specialized in connections between short and medium-haul flights, with very short transit times and an exceptional 99% success rate. The Air France, Brit Air and Régional teams, as well as those of the Aéroport de Lyon, are the key players in this daily ballet of airplanes and connections. Major logistical improvements, particularly the Terminal 2 pier opened in 2005, and the development of self-service facilities (self-service kiosks, e-tickets, etc.) have contributed to the success of the hub. Today, the Lyon hub offers many assets: the quality and reliability of its schedule, the adaptability and responsiveness of Air France and its Brit Air and Régional subsidiaries in terms of operations and fares, and the appeal of the metropolitan area of Lyon, among Europe s Top 20 most attractive cities. 4/14

5 KEY DATES 27 October 1997: Jean-Cyril Spinetta, Chairman and CEO of Air France, inaugurated the Air France hub in Lyon. The hub linked 12 regional French cities to Germany, Spain, Italy and Switzerland. Flight schedules were spread over two connecting banks (morning and evening). 1999: the success of the Lyon hub enabled Air France to open 10 new routes and create a third connecting bank at midday, linking up 38 cities in France and Europe. 2002: The Air France station in Lyon received the QUALICERT service label for its commitment to service. The Company placed emphasis on the seamlessness and ease of travelling and installed self-service ticketing machines. 2004: the closer working relationship between Air France and KLM opened up possibilities for new services. Flights between Lyon and Amsterdam were operated as AF/KL codeshares and their timetables coordinated to facilitate connections at Amsterdam-Schiphol. The two companies fares are combinable. This entire arrangement made it possible to expand the service offering, flights and fares worldwide via Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Amsterdam- Schiphol, to and from Lyon-Saint-Exupéry. 2005: the opening of the Terminal 2 pier on 9 December, was a deciding factor in the hub's organization. Designed for connections within 25 minutes, the pier made it possible to simultaneously handle arrivals and departures at 29 aircraft parking stands, directly linked to boarding lounges. This replaced bus transfers. 2007: the tenth anniversary of the hub. On 17 October, Air France announced the opening of a non-stop Lyon/New York-JFK service operated with the American carrier Delta, in summer Three new European routes were launched to Birmingham, Florence and Hamburg. 5/14

6 ORGANIZATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE: PUTTING PASSENGERS FIRST The Lyon hub offers a quick way to link up regional French and European cities. Thanks notably to the Terminal 2 pier, opened on 9 December 2005, minimum connecting time has been reduced to 25 minutes. The rate of successful connections is 99% and punctuality on departure is over 87%. These key points consolidate the leading position of Air France in terms of European regional traffic. Simpler and shorter transits appeal to business passengers. Moreover, a wide, competitive range of fares makes it possible to capture an increasingly numerous leisure clientele. Over these past ten years, the Air France hub in Lyon has based its development on one permanent objective: customer satisfaction and loyalty. This objective has underpinned the search for constant innovation and excellence in passenger relations. IATA Year IATA Year Passengers on all routes from/to Lyon 2,077,240 3,543, % Passengers on inter-regional routes from/to Lyon hub 1,318,000 2,679, % Passengers transiting in Lyon 205, , % Share of connecting traffic on inter-regional routes 16% 31% Share of business traffic 70% 56% Share of leisure traffic 30% 44% Weekly connecting opportunities (<2h) 3,000 6,300 6/14

7 Innovative service solutions Seamlessness and autonomy: electronic tickets represent 94% of tickets issued by Air France on services to and from the Lyon hub. At the airport, 47% of passengers check in directly online or on one of the 16 self-service check-in machines in the airport terminal. From 30 hours to 30 minutes prior to the latest check-in time, passengers with an Internet connection can choose their seat and print out their boarding card ( in just a few clicks. This service makes it possible for them to head straight to the boarding area. If passengers wish to check in their luggage, they simply go to the baggage drop off" counter. At the airport, they can also check in for their flight at a self-service check-in machine, from five hours prior to the departure time of their flight up until the latest check-in time. Comfort: the Patio lounge, a private waiting area, is scheduled to open in summer This space, covering 180 sq.m. and equipped with 80 seats, will be located in the heart of the boarding area at Terminal 2. Members of the Flying Blue Gold or Platinum frequent flyer programme and Elite Plus members of the SkyTeam programmes will have free WiFi access and will also find self-service refreshments and snacks. Quick, reliable connections Connections between the 274 daily flights of the Lyon hub are spread over three connecting banks. 7/14

8 Winter schedule 2007/2008 Timetable subject to change, typical weekday day. CONNECTING BANK 1 CONNECTING BANK 2 Arrivals in Lyon Departures from Lyon Arrivals in Lyon Departures from Lyon CLERMONT-Fd MUNICH AMSTERDAM LE HAVRE STRASBOURG DUSSELDORF BIRMINGHAM ROUEN MILAN MULHOUSE LORIENT MADRID CAEN MILAN ROUEN BIRMINGHAM NICE MARSEILLES BOLOGNA PRAGUE LIMOGES ZURICH LE HAVRE HAMBURG MARSEILLES LORIENT PRAGUE LIMOGES MONTPELLIER METZ VENICE BREST MULHOUSE MADRID BARCELONA LORIENT PAU PAU BUDAPEST STRASBOURG NANTES BARCELONA STUTTGART BARCELONA STUTTGART STRASBOURG ZURICH COPENHAGEN BOLOGNA LIMOGES MILAN DUSSELDORF RENNES LILLE COPENHAGEN BUDAPEST MUNICH ROME BREST MILAN DUSSELDORF TOULOUSE STRASBOURG STUTTGART BARCELONA RENNES MADRID RENNES BIARRITZ NANTES DUSSELDORF METZ TOULOUSE CAEN MUNICH ROME ZURICH BREST RENNES LILLE BORDEAUX FRANKFURT LIMOGES MONTPELLIER LE HAVRE NICE CAEN BIARRITZ BRUSSELS LE HAVRE PAU NANTES BREST ROUEN LILLE VENICE VENICE MONTPELLIER ROME FRANKFURT ROME VENICE HAMBURG BORDEAUX LORIENT BIRMINGHAM FRANKFURT MULHOUSE METZ BORDEAUX NICE NICE ROUEN PRAGUE MONTPELLIER STRASBOURG LILLE BIARRITZ METZ MUNICH MADRID HAMBURG MULHOUSE BOLOGNA FRANKFURT CLERMONT-Fd MARSEILLES CAEN TOULOUSE BOLOGNA BIARRITZ TOULOUSE BORDEAUX STUTTGART BORDEAUX PAU NANTES CASABLANCA TOULOUSE ZURICH VIENNA VIENNA STRASBOURG MARSEILLES TUNIS /14

9 CONNECTING BANK 3 Arrivals in Lyon Departures from Lyon MILAN ZURICH CLERMONT-Fd MONTPELLIER MONTPELLIER METZ LIMOGES MARSEILLES BARCELONA ROUEN STUTTGART LE HAVRE TOULOUSE BORDEAUX STRASBOURG NANTES MULHOUSE CAEN NANTES LILLE MARSEILLES VIENNA METZ TOULOUSE RENNES DUSSELDORF VIENNA VENICE CAEN MILAN BORDEAUX ROME BOLOGNA MADRID DUSSELDORF LORIENT LILLE BRUSSELS BIARRITZ BARCELONA MUNICH MUNICH FRANKFURT BREST ZURICH RENNES PAU FRANKFURT PRAGUE NICE LE HAVRE STUTTGART ROUEN PAU LORIENT BOLOGNA NICE STRASBOURG BREST BIARRITZ MADRID LIMOGES ROME MULHOUSE VENICE CLERMONT-Fd BIRMINGHAM HAMBURG /14

10 The opening of the Terminal 2 pier in December 2005 contributed to improving connections in terms of comfort and speed. The extension offers boarding areas covering 3,000 sq.m. and is livened up with shops and services. Minimum connecting time reduced to 25 minutes 29 airplanes can be simultaneously parked near the terminal: 8 parking stands are connected by jetways to Terminal 2 and 21 stands are located outside the pier s boarding lounges. With shorter walking distances between flights, minimum connecting time has been reduced to 25 minutes: an interval of any less for a connection cannot be displayed in the distribution systems. The rate of successful connections is 99% for passengers travelling with or without baggage. This performance makes the Lyon hub stand out among Europe s most efficient regional hubs. This results from simple transit circuits and the synchronized operations set up between Air France, Brit Air and Régional, the three airlines ensuring the hub s operation. Between summer 1998 and summer 2007, the number of weekly connections in Lyon increased fivefold, from 1,200 to 6,300, thanks to: - the addition of a third connecting bank in summer 1999, - the doubling of destinations with flights to and from the hub, from 21 in 1997 to 45 in winter Generating 31% of inter-regional traffic for the IATA 2006/07 fiscal year, compared to 16% for the 1998/99 fiscal year, connecting traffic increased fourfold in ten years and thus constitutes significant growth leverage for the Lyon hub. 1,460 people contribute to the success of the Lyon hub The Lyon hub is operated by three Air France Group airlines: Air France and two of its subsidiaries, Brit Air and Régional. Each company handles its passengers and has its own staff for this purpose, under the authority of a station manager. The staff: Air France: 553 (481 at the station and 72 in cargo); Brit Air: 387 (including 240 pilots and flight attendants based in Lyon); Régional: 230 (including 150 pilots and flight attendants based in Lyon). In addition Air France has a commercial and administrative team of 292 staff in Lyon and Grenoble. 10/14

11 AIR FRANCE IN RHONE-ALPS, AUVERGNE AND BURGUNDY PROVIDING A SOLID, SUSTAINABLE BASE IN THE REGION 327 daily flights to 64 destinations in winter airports: Lyon-Saint-Exupéry Clermont-Ferrand-Auvergne Annecy For the IATA year : 4.2 million passengers, including over 3.54 million in Lyon, 24,000 tons of cargo, million euros in passenger revenues, 37 million euros in cargo revenues. 1,480 employees (including those of Brit Air and Régional). A sales force of 50 sales representatives and assistants. 9 airport ticket offices and sales desks. One call centre: opened in 2001, employing 180 people. With the assistance of its franchise partners Brit Air and Régional, and thanks to commercial agreements with Alitalia, CCM Airlines, Malev, Royal Air Maroc and Tunisair, Air France is increasing its connecting opportunities at Lyon-Saint-Exupéry, the shortest route linking the major cities of France and Europe. 11/14

12 AIR FRANCE'S INTER-REGIONAL ROUTE STRATEGY Air France has implemented a dense network of flights between the eight main cities in Metropolitan France (Bordeaux, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Nantes, Nice, Strasbourg and Toulouse) with nearly always at least three daily frequencies enabling passengers to make same-day returns. Depending on the changing demand, customers can also choose between other direct routes out of Brest, Clermont-Ferrand, Metz, Montpellier and Rennes, for example. To be able to offer customers a wider choice of schedules, Air France s inter-regional routes are mostly served by aircraft with between 30 and 100 seats, operated by two of the Group s subsidiaries, Brit Air and Régional, by the French airline Airlinair, the first European airline to operate turbo-prop ATR aircraft, and by CCM on routes to Corsica. Air France also operates non-stop services to major European cities on departure from Bordeaux, Clermont-Ferrand, Lyon, Nantes, Nice, Strasbourg and Toulouse. All of these routes enable regional customers to travel to their destination without having to connect through Paris-Orly or Paris-Charles de Gaulle. 12/14

13 BRIT AIR Brit Air is the main airline to operate from Lyon Saint-Exupéry airport. Based in Morlaix since it was set up in 1973, and an Air France subsidiary since 2000, Brit Air today employs 1,300 staff including close to 400 based in Lyon. Brit Air already worked alongside Air Inter when the Lyon hub was inaugurated, and has since developed its activity in Lyon, with 22 destinations in 2007 compared with 5 in 1996, operated with Air France flight numbers: Barcelona, Birmingham, Brest, Caen, Copenhagen, Düsseldorf, Florence, Le Havre, Lille, Limoges, Madrid, Montpellier, Munich, Nantes, Nice, Orly, Prague, Rennes, Rome, Rouen, Strasbourg and Toulouse. The number of passengers carried has consequently increased, from 122,000 in 1996 to 815,000 in Lyon is the only Brit Air destination to have its own team of ground staff, with close to ninety people working in passenger service: check-in and boarding are carried out by Brit Air agents. Moreover, two hundred and forty pilots and flight attendants are based in Lyon. By setting up its own subsidiary, Lyon Maintenance in 1999, Brit Air started to further develop its employees skills for the safety of its aircraft. Brit Air is one of Europe s main regional airlines. Its fleet comprises forty-five regional jets with between 50 and 100 seats (Fokker 100, CRJ 100 and 700). In 2006/07, Brit Air carried over four million passengers for Air France, on 275 daily flights serving 75 destinations in France and Europe, generating revenue of million euros. Brit Air is also the first regional airline in the world to have been certified for its service standards, on 6 September In February 2007, Brit Air placed a firm order with Bombardier for eight CRJ 1000, with another eight on option, which will be put into service as from /14

14 REGIONAL Based in Nantes, Régional was set up in 2001, resulting from the merger of Regional Airlines, Proteus Airlines and Flandre Air, which had been operating routes from Lyon for several years. Régional joined the Air France Group in the same year. Close to 230 staff are based in Lyon, over two-thirds of whom are pilots and flight attendants. From Lyon, Régional operates 82 daily flights to and from 14 destinations in France and Europe: Biarritz, Bologna, Brussels, Clermont-Ferrand, Hamburg, Lorient, Metz, Milan, Mulhouse, Lille, Nice, Pau, Stuttgart and Venice. Régional carries over 600,000 passengers every year. The aircraft operated on this network are Embraer 120,135, 145 and 190, Fokker 100 and ATR 72. They seat from 30 to 100 passengers. Régional links all the main French and European cities, and its network revolves around four airport bases: Bordeaux, Clermont-Ferrand, Lyon and Paris-Charles de Gaulle. In total, Régional operates close to 370 daily flights to 46 destinations in France and Europe. Its fleet comprises 62 aircraft. In , Régional generated revenues of 565 million euros. The airline employs 1,800 staff. 14/14