Since 7 April 2015, Air France's new travel cabins have been serving Douala (Cameroon) and Malabo (Equatorial Guinea), the first African destinations to benefit from these cabins.
Customers can fly off to Douala and Malabo as a continuation of the service, on departure from Paris-Charles de Gaulle, on board a Boeing 777-200 equipped with the new cabins, with 40 Business seats, 24 Premium Economy seats and 216 Economy seats.
The gradual entry into service of the BEST-equipped Boeing 777 enables Air France to serve Douala and Malabo with the new cabins up to seven times a week throughout the 2015 summer season.
Flight times (local time)
To/from Douala
- AF 958: Leaves Paris-Charles de Gaulle at 11:10, arriving at Douala International Airport at 16:35 the same day - AF 953: Leaves Douala International Airport at 23:10, arriving at Paris-Charles de Gaulle at 06:35 the following day
To/from Malabo
- AF 958: Leaves Paris-Charles de Gaulle at 11:10, arriving at Malabo International Airport at 18:20 the same day - AF 953: Leaves Malabo International Airport at 20:50, arriving at Paris-Charles de Gaulle at 06:35 the following day
Douala and Malabo, tenth destination served by Air France's Best cabins
Air France continues to roll out its new travel cabins on board its Boeing 777, at the heart of its long-haul fleet. The new BEST cabins are already available on flights to New York, Tokyo, Singapore, Jakarta, Shanghai, Sao Paulo, Dubai, Guangzhou and now Douala and Malabo. As from 14 May 2015, Yaounde will be the next destination in Africa to benefit from the comfort of these new cabins.
At the end of the 2015 summer season, Air France's new BEST cabins will equip 21 aircraft serving some 18 long-haul destinations:
- North America: Los Angeles, New York, Toronto, Washington,
- South America: Sao Paulo,
- Africa: Bangui, Douala, Libreville, Malabo, Yaounde,
- Middle East: Beirut, Dubai,
- Asia: Beijing, Guangzhou, Jakarta, Shanghai, Singapore, Tokyo-Haneda.
Business, a cocoon in the sky
In Air France's new Business cabin, Air France has created a real cocoon in the sky. The seat adapts to the shape of each individual, from seating position to a true bed close to two metres long. At the heart of the curved structure, each passenger creates their own space, enveloping and protective, according to their desires.
The seat's soft foam is designed to offer impeccable quality of sleep. The bed's enveloping and padded headboard conveys an impression of being in a warm, contemporary room, a signature feature of Air France seats. The soft duvet and XXL-sized feather down pillow have also been designed with the passenger's optimum sleeping comfort in mind.
Premium Economy, Economy, optimum travel comfort
In Premium Economy, customers enjoy more comfortable seat cushions and a multi-position footrest, which further improves the comfort of this cabin. In Economy, the new seat has been completely redesigned, with more legroom, new seat cushions, softer headrests and a larger tray table.
Everything has been redesigned to offer optimum travel comfort. There are also new features such as electric sockets and headphone holders.
A vast network between Europe and Africa
Extensively present in Africa, Air France and KLM currently fly to 39 destinations in Africa.
Thanks to its joint-venture partnership with Kenya Airways, the Air France-KLM Group can offer even more flight frequencies between Europe and Africa and is expanding its network with 16 destinations: Addis Abeba (Ethiopia), Blantyre (Malawi), Bujumbura (Burundi), Harare (Zimbabwe), Khartoum (Sudan), Lilongwe(Malawi), Livingstone (Zambia), Lubumbashi (Democratic Republic of Congo),Lusaka (Zambia), Mayotte (France), Maputo (Mozambique), Mombasa (Kenya), Moroni (Comores), Nampula (Mozambique), Ndola (Zambia) and Zanzibar.
The Group also has a code-share agreement with the South African airlines Comair and kukula.com, offering two other destinations in South Africa via Johannesburg or Cape Town - Durban and Port Elisabeth.
Personnalized services on African routes
Air France offers customers on its African routes tailor-made services as soon as they arrive at the airport, as well as the excellence of French in-flight service.At Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport, a team of experts from the African continent is present on all flights to and from Africa, where they provide commercial assistance to passengers, taking into account the geopolitical, commercial, regulatory and cultural characteristics of each country.
Air France and KLM also offer a larger baggage allowance than on the rest of the long-haul network, to most African destinations.Around 1,000 local staff make up the Air France and KLM teams on the African continent.
They receive continuous training in international industry standards, working on a daily basis to provide customers with the best of Air France and KLM.
On board, more than 2,500 cabin crew staff, belonging to Air France's Africa and Middle East Division, meet the specific expectations of customers on African routes.
The Company offers a specific range of gourmet dishes including examples of African gastronomic produce such as chili or bissap juice in Business class.
