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First Air France A380 flight to Japan
On Wednesday 1 September 2010, Air France`s Airbus A380 served the Paris-Tokyo route for the very first time, making Tokyo the first destination in Asia to be served by the airline`s Super jumbo. The aircraft took off at 13:30 from Paris-Charles de Gaulle, and will land at Tokyo-Narita at 08:10 local time, tomorrow morning.

The A380 flight schedule on the Paris - Tokyo route:

Paris-Tokyo: AF 276, on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays; flights will be daily starting 4 October 2010. Flight departs from terminal 2E at 13:30, and arrives at 08:10 the following day
Tokyo-Paris: AF 275, on Monday s, Thursday s and Saturday s; flights will be daily starting 5 October 2010 Flight departs at 11:50 and arrives at Paris-Charles de Gaulle 2E at 17:15

Paris-Tokyo is Air France`s 3rd route served by A380, following Paris-New York in 2009 and Paris- Johannesburg in February 2010. Thanks to the A380, Air France is rationalizing frequencies on these busy routes by combining two flights leaving at close departure times, while still offering the same number of seats and reducing costs by 20%. The A380`s main deck is the same size as a Boeing 777-200 and the upper deck is the same size as an Airbus A340 -300.

Air France`s A380 is equipped with 538 seats in three cabin classes - La Premiere (First), with 9 seats on the main deck, Affaires (Business), with 80 seats on the upper deck, and Voyageur (Economy), with 449 seats divided between the two decks.

The A380 is the world`s most environmentally-friendly aircraft - with less than 75 grams of CO2 produced per passenger per kilometre - and the quietest in its category. Its spacious cabin offers passengers additional comfort. On board this aircraft, Air France has introduced changing lighting moods adapted to the various stages of the flight, meeting points and relaxation areas, as well as a completely new in-flight entertainment system with wider screens.

Air France has ordered twelve A380s, four of which have already been delivered. In winter 2010, Air France and KLM will operate 52 weekly return flights between Paris, Amsterdam and Japan:

to and from Tokyo-Narita : 31 flights, including 21 AF flights (of which 7 operated by JAL on a code-share
basis) and 10 KLM flights;
to and from Tokyo-Haneda: 7 AF flights operated by JAL on a code-share basis, starting 31 October 2010;
to and from Osaka-Kansai : 14 flights, including 7 AF flights and 7 KLM flights. With this large number of flights, Air France and KLM offer passengers a wide choice of departure times both ways with daily flights leaving both in the morning, afternoon and evening.

Vicky Karantzavelou - Friday, September 03, 2010