CityJet to Fly Newcastle – Paris CDG for Air France

Air France is continuing to switch winter flying between its various regional subsidiaries and it seems it will boost capacity by around a quarter on its Paris CDG – Newcastle by transferring the operation of the route from BritAir to CityJet. The service is currently flown using a Bombardier CRJ700 with three flights every weekday and two rotations a day at the weekend. However, from the start of the Northern Winter schedules an Avro RJ85 will be used on the route, increasing seating capacity as well as introducing a three-class product to the market.

An estimated 130,000 O&D passengers travelled on the route in the past year with Air France holding a 35 per cent share of this traffic. UK low-cost carrier easyJet also flies between Newcastle and Paris with four flights a week but its lower fares mean it has generated strong traffic and dominates the market with a 64 per cent share of the O&D passengers.

However, for Air France it is not about just the point-to-point traffic but the wider global options its extensive network from Paris CDG offers travellers from Newcastle and the wider north east English population. In total Air France carried a reported 95,000 passengers from Newcastle Airport in the past year, meaning that 52.5 per cent of the traffic did not end their journey in the French capital.

Alongside Amsterdam, London and Dubai, Paris is one of the main transit points for travellers from Newcastle, with the largest traffic flows this past year being to Rio de Janeiro, Hong Kong, Beijing, Tunis, New York and Johannesburg. The table below clearly shows the importance of this connecting traffic for supporting this regional air service, with transit passengers exceeding point-to-point passengers in four of the last five calendar years.

In 2010, Air France saw its O&D passenger numbers on the route increase for the first time in five years, although a large reduction in transfer traffic means that overall passenger numbers were at their lowest level during the five year period. Although the national carrier boosted its share of the traffic back above the 30 per cent level in 2010, the overall performance of the route has declined with average one-way fares slipping to $181, down 19.9 per cent on the five year peak in 2007. The introduction of a three-class service on the route from this winter is clear evidence of a plan to reverse the declining yields.