Air France-KLM decides to acquire 10 additional Airbus A350-900s as part of the replacement of Air France’s Airbus A380s. This upcoming order will bring the total number of A350 aircraft to 38, including three that have already been delivered. “With this decision, Air France-KLM is pursuing its fleet rationalization and simplification strategy”, specifies the Franco-Dutch group.

“KLM is already well on its way to simplifying its long-haul fleet which will ultimately consist of only Boeing 777 and 787 aircraft, sharing a common pilot type rating”. As for Air France's long-haul fleet, it will consist of 116 aircraft split amongst only four families: Airbus A330s and A350s, and Boeing 787s and 777s, in 2023. “As at KLM, As at KLM, this will bring Air France greater operational flexibility, as well as the opportunity to make significant economies of scale, thanks in particular to reducing the number of pilot qualifications to three by 2023 – Airbus A330/A350, Boeing 787, and Boeing 777”, underlines Air France-KLM which indicates that the exit of the Airbus A380 fleet will occur by the end of 2022 and the arrival of the A350-900 will also allow the company to accelerate the departure of the Airbus A340s during the first quarter of 2021.