AF confirms long-haul LCC plans

THE Air France-KLM Group
plans to enter the low-cost,
long-haul travel market.
A spokesperson for Air
France-KLM told TNW that,
as part of its strategic ‘Trust
Together’ project, the group
was looking at current market
trends, including low-cost longhaul
options. However, she
says no concrete plans are in
place for a long-haul LCC yet.
Whether a long-haul LCC
between Europe and SA would
be viable is questionable,
industry experts say.
“I am sceptical whether a
‘true’ LCC will operate nonstop
scheduled flights between
Europe and SA,” says Marc
Israel, researcher of Airline
Profiler. He says currently the
longest long-haul LCC flight
is under eight hours, mainly
because aircraft rotation must
be maximised in an LCC model
to be able to sell more seats.
Dr Peter Morrell, author of
‘Can long-haul low-cost airlines
be successful?’, agrees and
says applying the low-cost
model on long-haul routes
works best using single-aisle
aircraft on sectors of up
to about five to six hours.
“Longer flights require larger
wide-body aircraft.” He doubts
whether Air France could
get its costs low enough to
compete on price (or service
quality) on longer sectors.
However, AASA ceo, Chris
Zweigenthal, says: “This is
largely an untested market but
as airlines look to make air
travel even more affordable,
this is an option. It is clearly
a lot longer flight time [than
normal LCC flights] and
passengers may require up
to two meals and drinks.
[Airlines using a long-haul LCC
model] would have to factor in
these costs as well as costs
for additional services, such
as inflight entertainment – if
available on board – in the
total cost of the trip.” .