It’s been a year of highs and lows for Air France. The French national carrier has gained massive amounts of visibility by being one of the Paris Olympics main sponsors, but also profits and operating margins haven’t been all that great. However, that is also due to the negative effect that big events, such as the Olympics have on the hometown airline. In late 2024 thought, the airline is looking to continue expanding its route network, this time with a flight that will take it extremely far east. Manila will become the carrier’s fifth southeast Asian flight. Here’s all there is to know about the new AF208 Paris to Manila Air France flight.
Manila Makes it 5 Air France Destinations in Southeast Asia
It isn’t all that surprising that Air France is starting a new route from Paris CDG to Manila’s NAIA, it is more suprising to know that the airline didn’t already have it in place. The Filipino expat community is one of the largest in Europe and Air France is one of the best-connected airlines in the continent. The only factor that lessens the surprise is that of the AF-KLM family generally the Dutch carrier is the one that is more incline to serving Asian destinations.
The wait for the first Air France flight on the Paris to Manila route won’t be at all long. The first flight is scheduled to fly the route as early as December 7th 2024. A launch date perfectly timed to intercept those travelling back home to visit family and friends during the Christmas festivities.
The flight will start off with a 3 times weekly frequency, offering flights every:
- Monday
- Wednesday
- Saturday
Flight number as mentioned above will be AF208 for the flight from Paris to Manila and AF209 for the return sector. Manila will be Air France’s fifth destination in southeast Asia joining the already standing services to:
- Hong Kong (HKG)
- Ho Chi Minh City (SGN)
- Bangkok (BKK)
- Singapore (SIN)
A Double Night Flight on Air France’s New A350-900
Interestingly the way the flight’s duration matches up with the flight time, makes for 2 very long overnight services. Albeit with the Paris to Manila flight going through daytime to eventually land in the evening. Here’s what I mean, you’ll get the idea by looking at the complete schedule here below.
| Flight Number | Departure Airport | Airport Code | Departure Time | Arrival Airport | Airport Code | Arrival Time | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | AF208 | Paris | CDG | 23:20 | Manila | MNL | 19:30 |
| AF209 | Manila | MNL | 21:50 | Paris | CDG | 05:50 |
The flight will be served by the growing Air France A350-900 fleet. The airline making of this aircraft the backbone of its long-haul fleet and has also fitted it with its most modern interiors on most of them. The planes on the Paris to Manila route will not feature the new interiors though. Not on a regular basis at least, they might occasionally be due to aircraft swaps for operational reasons.
The Air France A350-900 for the Paris to Manila flight AF208 will feature a 3-class configuration offering:
- 34 Business Class Seats in a 1-2-1 layout
- 24 Premium Economy Class Seats in a 2-4-2 layout
- 266 Economy Class Seats in a 3-3-3 layout.
If you are travelling Business class, be aware that:
- Even numbered rows have seats closest to the windows. Also, these seats offer greater privacy over others in absence of a partition door as present on newer AF seat models.
- Even numbered rows also have so-called honeymoon central seats. These are central seats close to each other and are great if travelling with your partner or family.
- This seat design doesn’t have the door that blocks you off from the aisle creating the suite effect.
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