Air France will make Orlando its 18th U.S. destination this spring. Airlines editor Robert Silk sat down with Boaz Hulsman, the carrier's commercial vice president for North America, at the Airline Passenger Experience Association conference this fall in Long Beach, Calif., to discuss that route and other Air France developments for the U.S. market.
Boaz Hulsman
Q: Paris-Orlando flights start May 21. You tried this route in 2011 and 2012, but it didn't work. What will be different this time?
A: There's been a natural buildup in transatlantic travel. Also, Central Florida has changed a bit; there has been quite an influx in population, so we expect demand out of there to be much stronger than it was. [To those outside the U.S.,] Orlando is known as the theme park capital of the world. But we also know the draw of Paris and France; we've really seen that across the U.S.
Q: So you expect lots of originating traffic in Orlando, not just in Paris?
A: Yes, 50-50. It's the largest unserved market to France. We prefer to have our routes strong on both sides.
Q: What premium products are you flying now to the U.S.?
A: We fly La Premiere first class into New York, San Francisco, L.A., Washington and Miami. But in a couple months we are going to announce a real nice revamp for that cabin. So that's a cliffhanger for more to come.
Both Air France and KLM have also really upgraded the business cabin. We introduced sliding doors last year for more privacy. The retrofits have been largely focused on the U.S. market. And then the Premium cabins -- Air France was one of the first carriers to introduce premium economy. Being a first mover has many advantages, but it means you have to refresh earlier, too. That's what we're doing now. We're rebranding, dropping the "economy" from the name. But it's more than just a rebranding. We're also retrofitting the seats, and we're updating the food and beverage. We'll get a Michelin-star chef to create a dedicated menu for the Premium cabin.
Q: Your sixth U.S. lounge opened this summer at LAX. How has it been received?
A: We see an enormous uptick in our net promoter scores. This was the biggest lounge investment we've ever done in North America. Last year we opened a [refurbished lounge] in San Francisco, as well.
Q: This speaks to how much you're focused on premium cabins, right?
A: The real news in the space is the appetite for leisure travelers to pay into premium cabins. Leisure travelers expect to stay a little longer in the lounge because it's less about efficiency and more about enjoyment than it is for corporate travelers. We want to make something memorable and meaningful.
Q: Can you update us on your NDC program?
A: There's a different distribution landscape in North America compared to Europe. European carriers, including the Air France/KLM Group, are more active in the NDC space. We see great penetration. We have agents connected in the U.S. and Canada, but it is a little bit more a test-and-learn experience; and we're doing this in lockstep with Delta, our joint-venture partner.
Q: But Delta hasn't really gotten going with NDC. What does that mean for Air France?
A: We're sharing our NDC findings with Delta. But we're not differentiating NDC content out of the U.S. In the joint venture, we try to align our product offering as much as possible. We are working very hard with Delta and Virgin Atlantic to make sure the bundle offers we design are shared between the joint venture, so you can take the bundle offer on Delta and apply it to Air France.