Over 200 Aircraft_ The Fleet Of Air France In 2025

A lot has changed since we last examined the fleet of Air France back in late March 2022. The airline has received many, many more modern aircraft like the A220 and A350, and has retired its older airframes at the same time. And so, let's look at the state of the French side of the Air France KLM Group in 2025 for today's video. Exclusively examining the carrier's mainline fleet, these are the types and quantities of passenger aircraft as per data from planespotters.net. So we have 47 A220-300s, 5 A318-100s, 5 A319-100s, 36 A320-200s, 4 A321-100s, 10 A321-200s, 10 A330-200s, and 39 A350-900s. On the Boeing side, we have 18 777-200ERs, 43 777-300ERs, and finally 10 787-9s. Included in the mainline fleet but not used for passenger operations are two 777Fs. And then we should note that since we're just examining the mainline fleet, this excludes regional subsidiary HOP, which operates a mix of Embraer E170s and E190s. And so, what has changed since early 2022? Well, as we noted at the introduction, a lot. The carrier has let go of seven A318s, a whopping 23 A319s, and six A320s. Air France has also retired one A321-100 and four A321-200s. For widebody retirements, five A330-200s have exited the fleet, as have three 777-200ERs. As for the airline's 787-9s and 777-300ERs, nothing has changed. Arriving as modern replacements for the A319 in particular have been 40 more A220-300s. And continuing to replace the 777-200ERs are A350-900s, of which Air France has received an additional 25 over the past three and a half years. It's sad to see the increasingly rare A318 being retired, but the airframe's economics always made it an unpopular jet. The quote-unquote baby bus, at the time of making this video, is mostly deployed from Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle to Florence, Nice, and Marseille. The jet also makes less frequent appearances at destinations like Lyon, both Milan airports, Amsterdam, Lisbon, and many others. Most sources indicate that Air France will fully retire the A318 by the end of 2025. So after this, there will not be any network airlines operating the variant as regularly scheduled passenger services. But as for ordered but yet to be delivered jets, CH Aviation data states that the airline can expect 13 more A220-300s and two more A350-900s. Four A350Fs are also on the order book, but of course, these won't be flying passengers. Now, the undelivered A350 number needs a bit of explanation, especially since in September 2023, the Air France KLM Group announced its intention to order 50 Airbus A350 aircraft, a mix of Dash 900 and Dash 1000 jets. The announcement also noted that it was adding purchase rights for 40 additional aircraft. The 2023 statement noted that first deliveries were expected in 2026 through to 2030, with these aircraft set to replace previous-generation aircraft like the Airbus A330 and older Boeing 777 aircraft. It's these kinds of announcements that make things complicated and have us sympathizing with CH Aviation and other aviation databases in their quest to provide accurate fleet and order data. Not only did the initial 2023 announcement cover two separate airlines, Air France and KLM, but it also didn't specify the balance or exact quantity of each variant. Thus, in theory, the airline group has the flexibility to allocate 40 A350-1000s to KLM and 10 Dash 900s to Air France. Or 49 A350-900s to Air France and one A350-1000 to KLM. Or, well, anything in between. And so, while it's great for the airline group to have this flexibility to respond to changing passenger demand, it certainly makes things confusing for those of us trying to get an accurate idea of future fleet composition. Nonetheless, we would eventually learn that the variant balance would be 39 A350-900s and 11 larger A350-1000s, with airlines not specified. In August 2025, however, this would change, with news emerging that the group plans to convert eight of its A350-1000 airframes ordered into A350-900s. Thus, the new balance sees just three A350-1000s on the order books, alongside 47 A350-900s, still with no clarity on how many airframes will be going to Air France and how many will be allocated to KLM. You may have noticed that the airline group has yet to order the successor to the Boeing 777-300ER, the 777-9. Both Air France and KLM operate the 777-300ER, and so the update would make sense. However, there is still a lot of time for both Air France and KLM to decide on how to best replace the 777-300ER when these airframes get too old to operate. That's because KLM's 777-300ERs are a little under 12 years old on average, while Air France's 777-300ERs average a little over 17 years of age at the time of making this video. And sure, placing an order needs to account for manufacturing backlogs and training, but we're thinking that the airline group still has more than five years before it needs to decide on how to best replace these Boeing widebodies. Air France could go for the 777-9 or hold out for the 777-8 once that variant is under development. However, it could also just fully move over to Airbus widebodies and have a mix of A350-900s and A350-1000s. Capacities of these European aircraft compared to the 777-300ER are not quite the same, but moving fully over to the smaller A350 could give the airline more flexibility to operate more airframes that are easier to fill. But since the 777-300ERs are going to be around for a while longer, the topic of their replacements will be a conversation for another day. And since the 777-300ERs will be around for quite a few more years, Air France has installed a brand new first class on these jets. It was actually in March 2025 that Air France unveiled its long-awaited brand new La Première first class suite. The new suite comes a fully adaptable design, including a seat and a chaise longue that transforms into a two-metre fully lie-flat bed. The bed is 75cm wide. Air France says that the seat took three years of development. The suite is said to be the longest on offer, spanning five windows with an area of 3.5 square metres. This represents a 25% increase in space compared to the airline's current La Première. The suite features advanced technology, including not one but two 4K screens. There's also a mobile tablet to control the suite, including the window shades and recline. There's also wireless charging, one 10V-220V electric outlet and USB-A and USB-C ports. The suite also features charging stations with dedicated holders for phones and tablets. And so that's your look at the Air France fleet in 2025. Again, it's sad to see the A318 baby bus leaving the fleet, but it only makes sense with more A220s being delivered. The A330-200 is set to be retired in 2026, so that's yet another type that we probably won't be mentioning for our next Air France fleet video. But what are your thoughts on the Air France fleet and its direction? Let us know by leaving a comment.