Air France plans low-cost services

AIR France is planning to take on Easyjet and Ryanair by launching a range of low-cost domestic flights linking French cities.

According to a report in La Tribune - which Air France has refused to comment on - the airline will use Nice as a base for the operation.

Air France will use its sister brand Transavia to offer cheap flights linking Nice with the rest of France, using 186-seater planes. Until now, Transavia has specialised in European short-haul tourist services from Orly.

It is understood to have picked Nice as the base because of the high numbers of leisure travellers who pass through the airport to visit the Côte d'Azur. Easyjet already has a strong presence there, with flights to Paris, the UK and Geneva.

The low-cost plan is part of a series of measures Air France is looking at to save money on its domestic flights bypassing Paris.

It wants to improve efficiency by about 20% at the regional airports it serves - with faster flight turnarounds, fewer check-in staff and more outsourced work.

Easyjet and Ryanair are both well-established in the French domestic flights market. Ryanair uses Marseille as a base to serve Biarritz, Tours, Lille, Nantes and Beauvais, while Easyjet offers flights from its Lyon base to Bordeaux, Toulouse, Biarritz and Nantes.

Photo: Slasher-Fun

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