MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Air France To Increase Flights Between France and Chile

The French flag air carrier is working with an occupancy rate of 90%

Air France announced that beginning September 6, it will add more flights between Paris and Santiago. The airline currently offers five flights per week, but by September plans to increase that number to seven.

Passenger capacity per week will increase by 40% with the addition of the flights, according to Air France's general manager in Chile, Thibaud Morand.

Morand said the company was increasing the flights between Santiago and Paris because in the last season, the occupancy rate was higher than 90%. He said the company expected demand to remain high.

To increase tourist travel to Chile, from Dec. 17 to Jan. 17, three of the weekly flights will be on Boeing 777-300s.

Regionally, Air France also offers flights between Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Bogotá. In 2004, Air France joined with Dutch company KLM, creating a dual-country airline similar to what is expected from the merger of Chilean airline LAN and the Brazilian TAM.

“Trasnational brands are serving customers effectively in many parts of the world,” said Giovanni Bisignani, chief executive office of the International Air Transport Association.

By Kayla Ruble - Santiago Times