Air France and KLM have appointed a new general manager for the UK and Ireland, Bénédicte Duval. Ms Duval, who has had an extensive 30-year career in the airline, will oversee changes in the Irish market that will include additional Air France-operated flights and an extra daily service from KLM over the winter.
From the end of October Air France will be operating with two of its own A318 aircraft on Dublin to Paris. At present the route is operated by codeshare partner CityJet and this will fall to one per day. The fourth flight operated by Hop, the Air France regional service, with an Embraer E190.
KLM returned to the Irish market in November only last year with two daily services. The service increased to four flights daily in March, then a fifth daily service was added for the summer peak season. This is now continuing through the winter.
Delta upgrades app
Delta Airlines has added an automatic check-in facility to its app, to streamline passengers' check-in experience. Twenty-four hours before passengers travel they will receive alerts via email or push notification. Once the intending passenger opens the app and acknowledges the federal government mandate for restricted items, the boarding pass is there. The app can also track bags. Food will be improved on Delta's international flights from mid-2018. Passengers will be able to pre-select meals in business class, and economy passengers will get upgraded meals and cutlery. Main cabin customers on long-haul international flights are also treated to complimentary beer, wine, prosecco and spirits, as well as sleep kits.
Call for abolition of EU air passenger taxes
A study commissioned by A4E, the lobby group Airlines for Europe, has shown that abolishing air passenger taxes in the European Economic Area would boost GDP by a total of €215 billion over the next 12 years. The study, conducted by PwC, demonstrates the impact of passenger taxes which, it claims, are stifling growth. Counties which have scrapped air taxes have seen a boom in air traffic. Ireland scrapped the tax in 2014 and air traffic has grown hugely. Currently, air passenger taxes are collected in Austria, Croatia, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Norway and the UK while Sweden (2018) and the Netherlands (2021) are planning their introduction.