Air France’s new regional strategy takes one step backwards as four new routes are pulled back

Air France has made a U-turn with one component of its turnaround strategy by cancelling plans to launch four new short-haul international routes from new bases in secondary French cities. The four routes were to be launched in early Apr-2012 under the "commercial offensive" portion of Air France's turnaround strategy, which is aimed at curbing the growth of budget carriers and French railways while also returning its regional operation to profitability. The decision to cancel the four routes before they launched will see Air France's "offensive" weaken, providing further opportunity for budget carriers such as easyJet to strengthen their operations in France.

Cancelling routes before they are launched is rather unusual, especially in the situation Air France finds itself in. France has a relatively low LCC penetration rate, at just over 20% currently. Low-cost carrier penetration in the French domestic market is particularly low, about 14%, while in the international market the LCC penetration rate is currently about 23%, according to Innovata data.