Air France unveils new airline, Joon, in bid for younger passengers

Monday, 24 July 2017 00:07 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Joon will target Millennials generation

BERLIN (Reuters): Air France’s lower cost airline, aimed at restoring some routes to profitability and attracting new and younger customers to the carrier, will be called ‘Joon’.

Plans for the new airline, which will launch short-haul routes in the autumn from Paris Charles de Gaulle followed by long-haul routes in 2018, were approved by pilots this week as part of a package of measures to increase productivity at Air France.

Joon, which is targeting the ‘Millennials’ generation, will be run by Jean-Michel Mathieu, who has been involved with the project since the start and has held various positions in sales, digital and revenue management within the Air France-KLM group.Air France-KLM reports second quarter results next week, and more details of Joon’s routes, services and fares will be provided in September, Air France said on Thursday.

Air France wants to bring down costs in order to compete better against Gulf carriers on long-haul routes, and against budget carriers on short-haul routes.

The measures approved by pilots this week will see it increase productivity by 40 million euros ($46 million) annually in 2020, although one analyst saw this as still being too slow.