AIR FRANCE to close its bases

[Fletner007]

Air France to close its bases, MRS, NCE and TLS:

Le Figaro - Socits : Air France va fermer ses bases Marseille, Nice et Toulouse

In French only, happy new year.

[gcal]

I remember BA having bases in MAN and BHX which are now gone.
The base at LGW has seen a massive reduction in staff and wholesale contracting out.
All the flavour of the month for better or worse.
France has been slow to realise the threat and advantages that the so call LoCo model can bring with it.

[killthemole]

It's false.
Denial by airfrance.

Air France dément songer à fermer trois bases en province, Actualités

In french too

[AlphaZuluRomeo]

gcal, the concept of "bases de province" is 1 year old at AF.
I fail to see how it has been slow

[737Jock]

Those bases were created to compete with easyJet. As said only some months ago, closing them would be a massive bleeder and admission of stupidity on AF behalf. I don't believe it.

[Cyrano]

Originally Posted by AlphaZuluRomeo

gcal, the concept of "bases de province" is 1 year old at AF.
I fail to see how it has been slow

I'd agree with gcal's original comment that AF's response to the invasion of LCCs in France has been very slow. The "bases de province" have come very late, long after FR/EZY have colonised a large number of trunk routes which were previously the cash cow for AF domestic operations.

Originally Posted by killthemole

It's false.
Denial by airfrance.

Oh, well, that's OK then, if an airline denies it, that must mean there's no truth to it. End of story.

[LLuCCiFeR]

It's not all LoCo and short haul you know...

I remember BA having bases in MAN and BHX which are now gone.
The base at LGW has seen a massive reduction in staff and wholesale contracting out.
All the flavour of the month for better or worse.
France has been slow to realise the threat and advantages that the so call LoCo model can bring with it.

I agree but that's only part of the picture IMHO.

Another part of the problem is that France has an extremely centralist (planned) concept of the world. It sees Paris as the center of the universe, and thus everything is located in and around Paris. Go to the countryside in France and you'll only find old people, the young will have moved to the city, and even the ones that live in the bigger cities have to move to Paris for the good jobs.

At the same time the French have never been too keen on the concept of free markets and competition, and in their xenophobia they make life very difficult for any foreign airline or a new business concept by a company who wants to set up shop in France. And if it's not bad enough, the monopolistic and overpriced Air France product (offering you the luxurious choice between peanuts/"salé" or something sweet/"sucré" ) makes it IMHO extremely tempting for LoCo's to enter the market.

Now at the other hand look for example at Germany (a country similar in size) and Lufthansa, which over the years has been expanding it's Munich base with long and sort haul services, whilst offering a decent product and thus successfully keeping the market share of LoCo's within limits. Munich has lot's of jobs in the high tech and car industry, and an airport (also served by lot's of foreign airlines!) to support those industries.

Jobs and healthy competition create jobs, but the only thing France can offer outside the Paris region in the cities like Marseille, Rennes, Bordeaux, Nantes, Lille are central planning, banlieues and chômage.

[Wave off]

In Le Monde news paper, AF says to be just about to make a "Low Cost" offer.
Don't they confuse Low Cost operations (which they are unable to manage ) and "Low Fare" tickets, which are indeed different?

[vectisman]

The big difference between BA and Air France and is that BA has responded to the Low Cost Airline challenge by targeting different market segments from its three London bases. At Gatwick for example it offers full service but low cost routes to, primarily, higher end leisure destinations that can fill both club and economy cabins. It also maintains a presence for some connecting and business passengers. On very busy routes it splits operations between LHR and LGW to ensure higher demand for leisure travel doesn't diminish LHR yields.(e.g Las Vegas, Barcelona and Nice). London City targets high yield business point to point whlist LHR remains the biggest international hub in the world.
In addition the fact that BA has not been as protected as AF for years means that it has had to respond more quickly and effectively to changing market conditions. Indeed at Gatwick next summer it is competing very effectively with Easyjet, Monarch et al on prime summer routes offering in some cases lower fares. To do this it undertooK a radical cost cutting programme that is now beginning to produce positive results for the base especially in SH, as LH from there was already doing ok.
I am not sure if AF has the capability or will to make these changes. In addition it continues to enjoy government protection that very few other European airlines are allowed under EU rules. I am not sure why these never seem to apply to AF!!

V.

[Tableview]

Centralisation
Central planning
Protectionism
Monopolies
State Subsidies
Denials

Does this remind anyone of anything?

[CabinCrewe]

and can now no longer be used as an excuse for BA reopening sub bases back in ie MAN.
"Air France manage to have regional hubs " etc...

[Fairdealfrank]

AF regional bases

So AF is going back to funnelling pax through its CDG and ORY hubs?

Hardly a surprise! These days it's unusual in Europe for legacy carriers to be multi-base or have focus cities. LH is very much an exception.

[HOODED]

Is it just me or are LH doing somewhat better than AF/KLM at the moment? Does that tell you something? Maybe BA made a mistake? Look at MAN/BHX have the routes gone?no they're just flown by other carriers. BA have streamlined, AF would struggle with the French Unions!