Air France is in the process of overhauling their long-haul premium cabin fleet. The airline has some of the oldest and worst on board products in its fleet along with arguably the worlds best first class product.
| Plane | First Class Number of Seats | Configuration | Seat Type | Business Class Number Of Seats | Configuration | Seat Type |
| A330 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 40 | 2-2-2 | Angled Flat |
| A340 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 30 | 2-2-2 | Angled Flat |
| A380 | 9 | 1-2-1 | Old First Class | 80 | 2-2-2 | Angled Flat |
| 777-200 – V1 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 35 | 2-2-2 | Angled Flat |
| 777-200 – V2 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 40 | 1-2-1 | Lie Flat |
| 777-200 – V3 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 28 | 1-2-1 | Lie Flat |
| 777-200 – V4 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 16 | 1-2-1 | Lie Flat |
| 777-300 – V1 | 4 | 1-2-1 | New Suites | 58 | 1-2-1 | Lie Flat |
| 777-300 – V2 | 4 | 1-2-1 | New Suites | 40 | 1-2-1 | Lie Flat |
| 777-300 – V3 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 42 | 2-2-2 | Angled Flat |
| 787-9 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 30 | 1-2-1 | Lie Flat |
As you can see above, their current product is all over the place. To Air Frances credit they are in the process to make every seat a lie flat seat, but not all lie flat seats are made equal. Back in 2016 Air France announced that they would be installing 1-2-1 reverse herringbone seats on all A330 aircraft by the end of 2018. Not only did that not happen, but not a single plane was completed by 2018. Instead, Air France decided to change pace and has installed a completely different product on board its 15 A330 planes. The new A330’s are configured as follows:
| Plane | First Class Number of Seats | Configuration | Seat Type | Business Class Number Of Seats | Configuration | Seat Type |
| A330 – V2 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 36 | 2-2-2 | Lie Flat |
Air France’s new A330 business class
The seats are fully flat and convert into a 2m long bed
Each seat has a large 18.5″ HD entertainment screen and coat hook.
Air France has also installed a walk up bar in business class.
The rest of Air France’s new A330
The business class isn’t the only thing getting the upgrade with this overhaul as Premium Economy and Economy get refreshes as well. Air France’s A330’s feature a total of 21 premium economy seats, spread across three rows in a 2-3-2 configuration. Each seat reclines about 130 degrees in a fixed shell, but isn’t our favorite.
The A330 will also feature a total of 167 economy seats, in a 2-4-2 configuration.
Where is the plane flying?
For the current winter season the plane is flying to Houston (IAH) until March 30, 2019. Additionally the plane is flying to Accra (ACC) and Ouagadougou (OUA).
Coming in summer of 2019, Air France will additionally fly these planes to:
- Cotonou (COO)
- Lagos (LOS)
- Niamey (NIM)
- Bengaluru (BLR)
- Delhi (DEL)
- Chicago (ORD)
- Dallas (DFW)
- Seattle (SEA)
- Accra (ACC)
- Ouagadougou (OUA)
It’s unclear what happens to the Houston (IAH) route past March 30. Be sure to double check ExpertFlyer to make sure your plane is operated by the new aircraft. The seat map should only show 6 rows instead of 7.
All aircrafts are subject to last minute changes, so don’t be surprised if you end up with a last minute aircraft swap.
Conclusion
It’s great to see the Air France upgrade the A330 not only with lie flat seats in business class but down the entire plane. The 2-2-2 configuration is a bit of a bummer when you consider that they were originally planning to put a 1-2-1 configured seat on this plane in the past. These new seats are rumored to maybe get installed onboard the A380 and select 777-200 and 777-300. Let’s hope that they remain sensible and install direct aisle access 1-2-1 business seats moving forward for their remaining aircraft.
Feature Image Via Flickr Anna Zvereva