Air France opens bookings for A380 flights; to auction inaugural seats for childrens projects

Air France has decided to auction 380 seats on each of its two inaugural flights on the Airbus A380 superjumbo, operating from Paris to New York on 20 November and from New York to Paris on 21 November 2009. This exclusive auction sale, the terms of which will be presented at a later date, will take place on the Internet in October 2009 and will be available to all markets.

The winners will travel on the A380 outbound inaugural flight to New York and return on a commercial flight. Departures will only take place from Paris and New York.

The profits of this operation will be used to fund three humanitarian projects supported by the Air France Foundation for children in distress:

  • in France (Marseille) “Association Arts et Développement”: street art workshops in city neighbourhoods;
  • in South Africa (Johannesburg / Soweto, Alexandra and Witbank): “Fançois-Xavier Bagnoud Association”, an after-school program dedicated to orphans affected by AIDS;
  • and India (New Delhi): “Association Plan France”: project aimed at improving living conditions for child workers.

Pierre-Henri Gourgeon, Chief Executive Officer of Air France said

“Since 1992, the Air France Foundation has supported over 500 projects in 67 countries in order to enable sick and disabled children, as well as those in great distress, to have access to education, leisure activities and culture. We believe it is important that the first Air France Airbus A380 flight should not simply symbolize a technological achievement at the service of our customers, but also an operation in support of those in distress.”

The first commercial A380 Paris-New York flights will start operating from November 23, 2009 and bookings are open as from today.

Information and bookings are on the Air France website or it’s travel agents.

About Devesh Agarwal

A electronics and automotive product management, marketing and branding expert, he was awarded a silver medal at the Lockheed Martin innovation competition 2010. He is ranked 6th on Mashable's list of aviation pros on Twitter and in addition to Bangalore Aviation, he has contributed to leading publications like Aviation Week, Conde Nast Traveller India, The Economic Times, and The Mint (a Wall Street Journal content partner). He remains a frequent flier and shares the good, the bad, and the ugly about the Indian aviation industry without fear or favour.

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