Air France has listed its final flights for the Airbus A330 for the end of the upcoming winter season which ends in March 2027. In other words, the Airbus A330 fleet is not currently planned for operation in the company’s network in summer 2027, hinting at its complete retirement. Instead, the French flag carrier is shifting to larger-capacity Airbus A350 and Boeing 787 jets on many of its routes.

The A330s are currently deployed on many of its Africa and Caribbean-bound flights from its Paris Charles de Gaulle hub. Its most frequently flown destination with the type is St Maarten with up to 10x weekly flights this month, followed by Douala with six weekly rotations.

This is an important service upgrade for passengers used to flying on Air France’s A330s. The hard product, relative to its much newer A350s and 787s, is outdated.

Air France removes the Airbus A330 from its summer 2027 schedule

As flagged by Aeroroutes and backed up by schedule data filed to aviation analytics firm Cirium, Air France has scheduled its final A330 flights for 27 March. Beyond that date, its typical A330 routes will switch to other examples. The company will therefore be streamlining its long-haul fleet to just a few aircraft types, the bulk of which are 777s.

The aircraft’s final flights will include services originating in Douala, Lomé, Luanda and St Maarten bound for Paris. Some destinations that are served less frequently such as Pointe-Noire, will see their final A330s over the preceding days.

The airline’s fleet of A330s has an average age of 22.9 years, composed entirely of the -200 variant. This is the oldest aircraft group in its fleet, excluding the single Airbus A319 it operates (F-GRXF) which is 23.1 years old according to planespotters.net. It currently has 3 A330-200s in active service, with a further two parked in Paris and one undergoing maintenance in Kuala Lumpur.

Air France’s A330 retirement has been ongoing for some time. In late-2024, it emerged that Air France was already withdrawing some of its A330 planes – pointing to the type’s gradual retirement from the fleet. Over the course of the 2024 summer season, it withdrew five examples from service.

Air France’s A330 routes will switch to more modern aircraft types

Air France uses a lot of its A330 on triangular routes in Africa. This lowers risk on routes that have less demand, combining two destinations on a single aircraft.

This is typical for some other airlines that operate from Europe to Africa, including Brussels Airlines.

Air France’s A330-200 routes will be swapped to other aircraft types as shown below.

If operated at the same weekly frequency, the A350s and 787s represent a reasonably significant capacity upgrade compared to the A330s. The carrier’s A330s have 224 seats, including 167 in economy, 21 in premium economy and 36 in business class. The 787s have 276, representing a 23% increase in seat capacity.

The A350s have two possible configurations. One has 324 seats and the other has 292, resulting in a 45% or 30% increase depending on which is used.

Featured image: Carlos Yudica – stock.adobe.com

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