Air France — Flights, Punctuality & Cancellations in 2021
Having analyzed Germany’s flag carrier, Lufthansa, with our last post, we put together some of the most relevant data about Air France this time. Therefore, we analyzed Air France’s flight performance in 2021: Flight rankings, punctuality reports, and cancellation rates. Moreover, we benchmarked the airline’s flight performance against regional and global averages. Here’s what’s contained in detail:
Flight Analysis
Monthly Flight Overview
Global & Europen Ranking By Number of Flights
Pre-COVID Benchmark
Flight Punctuality
Monthly Punctuality Overview
Global & European Ranking By Punctuality
Flight Cancellations
Monthly Cancellation Overview
Global & European Ranking By Cancellation Rate
Air France — Flight Analysis
We kick off the analysis with details about Air France’s flights from February to June 2021. Then, on top of the overall numbers, we also provide information on the airline’s share in terms of EMEA traffic and the carrier’s ranking compared to other European and global airlines. Finally, and as the icing on the cake, we compare Air France’s performance in 2021 to pre-COVID results from 2019. So let’s get into it!
Monthly Flight Overview
Air France had a very strong start in 2021 compared to other European airlines. Compared to Lufthansa, for example, Air France operated almost 10,000 more flights in February. However, the French carrier wasn’t able to significantly grow its traffic in March and April. On the contrary, and different from many other European carriers, the airline had to reduce its number of flights in April; nevertheless, since May, Air France is back on its way out of the crisis — at least in terms of flights.
| Month | No. Flights | vs. prev. Month |
|---|---|---|
| February | 14,578 | |
| March | 14,659 | 0.1%  |
| April | 12,479 | 15.1%  |
| May | 18,108 | 45.1%  |
| June | 22,565 | 24.6% |
| Avg. ’21 | 16,477 |
Due to a large number of flights in February, Air France achieved an amazing share in relation to the overall flight of EMEA airline of 7.5%. However, afterward, the percentage steadily decreased in March in April to 4.5%.
Global & European Ranking By Number of Flights
Compared to many other airlines —globally and EMEA— Air France did an amazing job. As a result, the airline ranks among the top 20 world’s biggest airlines in three out of five analyze months. Moreover, in terms of EMEA airlines, Air France ranks second or third. From February to June, only Turkish Airlines, Aeroflot, and Ryanair (May and June) operated more flights than the French carrier.
| Month | Domestic Rank | EMEA Rank | Global Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| February | 1 | 2 | 13 |
| March | 1 | 2 | 21 |
| April | 1 | 3 | 23 |
| May | 1 | 3 | 17 |
| June | 1 | 3 | 13 |
| Average ’21 | 1 | 2.6 | 17.4 |
Pre-COVID Benchmark
When comparing Air France’s flight performance to pre-COVID time, the results are pretty different from other flag carriers. For example, while Lufthansa operated only 14% of pre-COVID flight volume in February, Air France already achieved more than 60%. Moreover, while Lufthansa reached 34% of its pre-COVID level, Air France achieved 77% in June.
| Month | Flights 2021 | Flights 2019 | ’21 vs. ’19 (abs) | ’21 vs. ’19 (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| February | 14,578 | 23,875 | 9,297 | 61.0% |
| March | 14,659 | 27,618 | 12,959 | 53.0% |
| April | 12,479 | 28,188 | 15,709 | 44.2% |
| May | 18,108 | 28,713 | 10,605 | 63.0% |
| June | 22,565 | 29,216 | 6,651 | 77.2% |
| Avg. ’21 | 16,477 | 27,522 | 11,044 |
Air France – Flight Punctuality
In the following chapter, we take a deeper look at Air France’s flight performance regarding punctuality. Again, we benchmark the airline’s results with EMEA averages and provide a domestic, regional, and global ranking.
Monthly Puncutality Overview
Contrary to its fantastic performance in terms of flight volume, Air France struggles with flight punctuality. Based on punctuality results below 80% in February and June, the airline achieved an average on-time performance of 81.4%. Also, compared to other big carriers (Ryanair >92%, Aeroflot >92%, KLM >90%), Air France’s results in terms of punctuality seem to have room for optimization.
| February | March | April | May | June | Monthly Average ’21 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Air France | 77.4% | 80.9% | 85.0% | 85.3% | 78.7% | 81.4% |
| EMEA Average | 73.9% | 85.7% | 85.6% | 85.2% | 83.6% | 82.8% |
Air France Flights — Global & European Ranking By Punctuality
Based on the weak performance, Air France ranks in the midfield from a global point of view. Moreover, compared to EMEA airlines, Air France ranks on positions >60 on average.
| Month | Domestic Rank | EMEA Rank | Global Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| February | 3 | 53 | 125 |
| March | 4 | 64 | 142 |
| April | 3 | 55 | 112 |
| May | 3 | 61 | 108 |
| June | 4 | 84 | 144 |
| Average ’21 | 3.4 | 63.4 | 126.2 |
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Air France Flight Cancellations
In the last chapter of this report, we take a detailed look at Air France’s flight cancellations. Similar to the previous chapter, we put results in relation to regional averages and provide rankings.
Monthly Cancellation Overview
We were pretty surprised when we came up with the results of Air France’s cancellation rates in 2021. The carrier faced some terrible months with cancellation rates close to or even above 10%. In other words, Air France had to cancel one out of ten flights in February and March. Moreover, the performance from April to June was also fragile. As a result, Air France’s cancellation rate is 3.3 pp. higher than the EMEA average.
| February | March | April | May | June | Monthly Average ’21 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Air France | 11.8% | 9.8% | 4.8% | 3.4% | 6.4% | 7.2% |
| EMEA Average | 6.8% | 2.7% | 2.5% | 4.0% | 3.6% | 3.9% |
Air France Flights — European Ranking by Cancellations
Based on the devastating results, Air France ranks in the last quarter compared to other global airlines and EMEA airlines.
| Month | Domestic Rank | EMEA Rank | Global Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| February | 3 | 73 | 158 |
| March | 4 | 82 | 175 |
| April | 3 | 69 | 149 |
| May | 4 | 75 | 134 |
| June | 4 | 89 | 163 |
| Average ’21 | 3.6 | 77.6 | 155.8 |
Used Data
The shown information is based on OAG data and internal data sources. Rankings only included airlines that operated more than 500 flights in the respective month. However, the global benchmark includes all tracked flights. On average, 280 airlines are included in each month’s analysis. Whenever stated, EMEA refers to airlines based in Europe, the Middle East, or Africa.
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