Airline Group Vies to Win Western Skies
~ Words by Vickie Sam Paget, Sky Blue Content ~
As Air France-KLM strengthens its position from western Canada with new Amsterdam and Paris routes, CT talks to Jean-Noel Rault, vice president and general manager for Air France-KLM Canada, about why the airline group is choosing to expand west…
As Canadian travel agents, we see more airlines come and go than we see webinar invitations in our inbox. So it’s always fascinating to learn why a major aviation player decides to fly into a specific destination.
For Air France-KLM Group’s vice president and general manager, Jean-Noel Rault, the reason is simple: his company is hot on the heels of Canada’s fastest growing economy.
This spring the airline group will launch two new services: Air France will begin to serve Paris-Charles de Gaulle from Vancouver, while KLM will launch an Amsterdam-Schiphol from Edmonton route.
The Vancouver-Paris service—which is set to start on March 29, providing up to five weekly flights—seems to be a logical choice. KLM already serves Amsterdam from Vancouver seven times a week, so adding a Paris service to the mix and using the French capital as a hub for connections is something of a no-brainer.
However, the Edmonton-Amsterdam route—which is due to kick off with three weekly flights on May 5 before increasing to four weekly flights on June 22—is more interesting.
Edmonton is an entirely new destination for the network. KLM’s debut on the Edmonton scene makes it the first and only European airline to connect Europe from the city. And the new Edmonton route—together with the Vancouver services—means that Air France-KLM now boasts the greatest number of flights from western Canada to Europe.
In short, the expansion of the Air France-KLM-Delta-Alitalia network—all the airlines joined forces five years ago—is big news in western Canada. And the two new routes from the west are strong signals of the network’s commercial offensive to strengthen its position to and from Canada.
On all of their transatlantic flights, the Air France-KLM Group operates a joint-venture with Delta and Alitalia. It focuses on the sharing of revenues and costs on more than 250 daily transatlantic flights. In total, the group represents close to 25 percent of the total capacity between Europe and North America and in 2013, it generated revenues of 13 billion dollars.
So in short, the big boys are coming to Edmonton. But why are they deciding to expand west right now?
“Historically Air France and KLM have had a very strong foothold in the eastern part of Canada,” explained Rault. “But looking at the dynamic of the economy in Canada, which is shifting to the west, we have to have better coverage of the full country.
“For the Air France route we had to consider the dynamic of British Columbia,” he added. “Out of Vancouver there were no direct flights to Paris and the city is a major destination and a major hub.
“But the logic of Edmonton from Amsterdam with KLM is a little different. The idea is to really open up the world for the people of Edmonton because we estimate that our customers will fly on connecting flights to one or more destinations. We are using Amsterdam as a hub and this will really open up the world for people living in northern Alberta.”
But has the recent drop in oil prices taken the sweetness out the decision?
“The commitment to Edmonton is a long term commitment,” confirmed Rault. “We do understand right now that the development in the price of oil is a challenge, but we do believe in the Albertan economy in the long run.
“In the west we have received a very high level of support from the local community, as well as a high level of enthusiasm towards our products. And really, when we want to commit ourselves on a long term basis, feeling that support is the key element in making decisions. The support we received from Edmonton and Vancouver was outstanding.”
Amsterdam Image: flickr.com/photos/kpaulus/
This interview first appeared in CT magazine, a publication for Canadian travel agents.
