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Air France to fly larger plane on Paris-Nairobi route
Air France-KLM General Manager for East, Southern Africa, Nigeria, and Ghana Joris Holtus during the launch of the "Air France: A Celebration of Timeless Elegance" exhibition at the Alliance Française in Nairobi on May 15, 2025.
Air France has expanded its passenger capacity on the Paris-Nairobi route, deploying a larger aircraft to handle higher demand for business and leisure travel.
The airline has introduced a bigger-capacity Airbus A350-900 aircraft on the route, replacing the Boeing 787-9 that it has been using to carry passengers between Nairobi and the French capital.
“This aircraft brings about 16 percent more seats to Kenya and this implies that we can accommodate further growth in the Kenyan market against increasing demand for Paris and Europe as travel destinations,” Joris Holtus, Air France-KLM’s General Manager for East and Southern Africa, Nigeria, and Ghana said.
Manufacturer specifications indicate that the A350-900 aircraft carries 300-410 passengers in typical three-class configurations, and up to 480 passengers in a single-class layout. Comparatively, a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner plane typically carries 290-330 passengers in a two-class configuration.
“This move also reflects our long-term commitment to the African market and our belief in Nairobi’s pivotal role in shaping the next chapter of aviation across the continent,”Hildabeta Amiani, Air France-KLM’s Country Sales Manager, Kenya said about the bigger plane deployed on Paris-Nairobi route.
The move by Air France is likely to heighten competition for rivals such as Kenya Airways, KLM, Emirates, RwandAir, Lufthansa, and Ethiopian Airlines which also operate flights between Nairobi and Paris.
Projections by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) show that the global airline industry is poised to carry a record 4.99 billion passengers by the end of this year- an indication of a full recovery and renewed growth five years after the Covid-19 pandemic brought air travel to a halt.
Travel between Nairobi and Paris has been boosted by conference and leisure tourism. Kenya and France have flourishing tourism sectors, each presenting unique lures. For example, Kenya is popularly known for its wildlife safaris, while France hosts iconic landmarks such as the Eifel Tower.
