Air France-KLM has formalised a widebody aircraft order realignment with seven A350-900s now formally transferred from KLM Royal Dutch Airlines' order book to Air France's.
According to Airbus orders and deliveries data, as of August 31, 2019, Air France has firm orders for twenty-eight A350-900s, while the Dutch unit does not have any orders for the type.
The Franco-Dutch holding announced earlier this year that it would seek to simplify the long-haul fleet make-up at both carriers, with all A350s going to Air France, and KLM, in turn, taking over six orders for B787s (to be taken from lessors) from its French counterpart.
According to the ch-aviation schedules module, Air France plans to debut the A350-900 in revenue service on October 7, 2019, deploying it on the Paris CDG-Bamako-Abidjan route.
Its current widebody fleet includes fifteen A330-200s, four A340-300s, ten A380-800s, twenty-five B777-200(ER)s, forty-three B777-300(ER)s, and nine B787-9s. For its part, KLM operates the following widebody aircraft: eight A330-200s, five A330-300s, three B747-400s, seven B747-400(M)s, fifteen B777-200(ER)s, fourteen -300(ER)s, thirteen B787-9s, and one B787-10.
