Air France Adds Paris-Shanghai Flights

Air France has added two new weekly flights between Shanghai and Paris, bringing the number of trips up to 12 a week.

The new flights use Boeing 777-200 airplanes with 263 seats, and leave Pudong International Airport at 11:35pm on Mondays and Saturdays, arriving at Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport at 5:35pm the following day.

Return flights leave Paris at 11:15pm on Sundays and Fridays and arrive in Shanghai at 4:15pm the next day.

By the end of this year, Shanghai passengers will arrive at a new satellite hall at the Parisian airport, the airline said.

And that means improved customer service, including self-service kiosks that enable passengers to check in and print out their boarding cards within 30 seconds.

The kiosks will let connecting passengers easily find out information about their onward flights, said Air France.

In the first half of next year, customers will be able to obtain refreshment and meal vouchers when their connections are delayed in Paris.

Luggage will also be tagged with radio frequency identification (RFID) chips, which can monitor bags traveling through the Paris airport.

Business class passengers can enjoy free French food and wine while waiting in the new satellite hall.

And passengers can even try the latest PlayStation games free while waiting for their flights.

Air France is expected to receive its first Airbus A380 Superjumbo in the summer of 2009.

"If there was no delivery delay by Airbus, we would have used the aircraft to serve the Beijing Olympics," said Jean-Cyril Spinetta, chairman and CEO of Air France KLM Group.

Air France will first use the A380 on Asian destinations including Singapore, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Beijing, according to the company. (Source: shanghai daily)