| Air France to lower prices |
| News - Financial News |
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--(www.FinancialNewsUSA.com)-- 11/16/2009 - Airlines industry news provided by Financial News USA. Air France said Thursday it plans to cut fares on European flights as part of a wider move to revamp its medium-haul service and stem losses. The airline said the price cuts, which reach up to 24 percent off the most expensive current fares on flights to Copenhagen and Frankfurt, are a response to changing customer requirements. In a statement Customers chief executive, Pierre-Henri Gourgeon, said "people now want reliable, efficient air transport, with an appropriate service, at the lowest possible price, while retaining the Air France touch," Air France's medium-haul flights account for 40 percent of its revenue, and the airline has been slashing capacity faster than competitors in an effort to counter falling traffic and losses, which amounted to euro426 million ($641 million) in the April-June quarter. Gourgeon said the revamping will allow the airline to cut its operating costs, for example by increasing reliance on internet bookings and serving simpler meals, and to increase market share by allowing customers greater flexibility to change reservations and offering them a "grace period" when reserving tickets. "All this has the goal of returning the short and medium-haul business to profitability," Gourgeon said. About Financial News USA Financial News USA is a Next Generation Financial Communications firm focused on the distribution of market moving news. Financial News USA has developed leading edge e-publishing tools including programming proprietary RSS feeds and enabling open source press release publishing across its network. Financial News USA has been aggressively expanding its news distribution network by targeting direct feeds to financial news and data providers such as FinancialContent, Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO), among others. Financial News USA offers a free news feed available online (www.financialnewsusa.com) to websites and financial services looking for content and for individual investors looking to stay informed on the financial markets. Financial News USA and its affiliates charge each client cash for news distribution and may take an equity position in the companies mentioned herein, please visit the disclaimer at www.financialnewsusa.com. 
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