After analyzing some of Europe’s biggest low-cost airlines (Ryanair, Vueling, easyJet), we want to look at some European flag carriers. Therefore, we checked the latest performance figures and analyzed Air France’s operational performance. As a result, we provide you with details about Air France’s flight volume, conduct a comparison to pre-COVID, and take a closer look at punctuality and reliability in August. So, if you want to discover Air France’s performance from February to July first — here’s the link you need.
The shown values are based on internal data sources. If you want to get access to airline performance figures in real-time, click here.
Air France — August Performance Summary
- Unlike most European airlines, Air France reduced its flight volume in August. Compared to the previous month, the French flag carrier operated 10% fewer flights.
- On the other side, Air France enhanced its on-time performance massively in August.
- Moreover, the carrier also operated an extremely high scheduel reliability in August.
Air France — Flight Volume
As already mentioned, Air France is one of the rare carriers that reduced its flight volume in August. However, especially when looking at the low-cost carriers, such as Ryanair or Vueling, the picture is entirely different. Most of them added between 10% to 30% to its flight schedule in August. However, Air France had to reduce its program by more than 10% and ended the month with 22,400 flights.
Also different from many other airlines: When comparing Air France’s flight volume in August to the annual, monthly average, the difference is (only) 25%. That, again, looks different for many other carriers. Many of them are up 50%-100% compared to the annual average.
Air France — Pre-COVID Comparison
The below figures a probably the most interesting of this month’s report. When comparing Air France’s flight volume in August to pre-COVID, the airline was down 7,000 flights. However, on the other side, Air France operated 75% of the volume they performed pre-COVID.
Therefore, despite the reduction in August, the result is better than for many other carriers, such as Lufthansa or easyJet. However, some low-cost carriers seem to deliver a better job here. Vueling, for example, operated more than 80% of its pre-COVID volume in August.
Air France — Punctuality and Reliabiltiy
Punctuality
Air France faced some severe issues in terms of punctuality in 2021. Therefore, the annual average is below 80%. Nevertheless, it seems that Air France managed a turn-around in August. As a result, the airline’s punctuality is up 11pp, resulting in 91.3%. Even more intriguing: Compared to July, Air France improved its punctuality by more than 20pp.
Punctuality counts the number of flights that arrive +15/-15 minutes to their scheduled arrival time and relates that to the overall number of performed flights.
Reliability
In August, Air France delivered an outstanding flight schedule reliability. The French carrier had to cancel only ~80 out of more than 22,000 flights. Moreover, the solid performance helps to improve Air France’s annual flight schedule reliability results. However, due to heavy hiccups at the beginning of the year, Air France’s annual average schedule reliability is below 94%.
Reliability counts the number of flights that actually have been operated and relates to the overall number of scheduled flights. Subsequently, the gap to 100% is flights that have been canceled.
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