Air France will be launching a new thrice-weekly non-stop service from Cape Town to Paris from November 3.

Flights will be operated by a Boeing 777-200 with a total capacity of 309 seats, equipped with 35 seats in the Affaires cabin (business), 24 seats in the Premium Voyageur cabin (premium economy) and 250 seats in the Voyageur cabin (economy). The airline’s new business-class seat will be on board.

The Cape Town to Paris flight will depart at 01h15, arriving at 11h35 on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, while the Paris to Cape Town return leg departs 10h40 arriving in Cape Town at 22h50 on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays.

This brings to 24 the number of weekly services offered by Air France KLM between South Africa and the airlines’ two hubs at Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Amsterdam Schiphol as from European winter 2011. Air France already operates a daily A380 flight between Paris and Johannesburg, while KLM operates a daily B777 flight between Amsterdam and Cape Town, and a daily between Amsterdam and Johannesburg.

This new route launch is part of Air France and KLM’s expansion policy on the African continent, with four new destinations in 2011 including Freetown (Sierra Leone), Monrovia (Liberia), Bata (Equatorial Guinea) and Cape Town.

Meanwhile, Starting May 3 as part of its European summer operating schedule, KLM will reduce its weekly Cape Town-Amsterdam flights from daily to five weekly, until October 28. The airline has extended the daily flights to May 2, after which the Thursday departure changes to a Saturday departure for the convenience of travellers.