Air France has confirmed that, with the commencement of its summer 2010 schedule, it will operate daily services to Johannesburg with the A380 instead of 12 weekly frequencies operated by a B777.

The airline also announced an additional three daily flights to Johannesburg during the Soccer World Cup.

The airline said the Air France KLM Group’s schedule for summer 2010 remained practically unchanged compared with 2009, showing slight growth for the long-haul network and a reduction for the medium-haul network.

New destinations that will be added to the group’s network include Denpasar (Bali) and once again Aruba for KLM, Abu Dhabi and Bata for Air France as well as Bari in codeshare with Alitalia.

At the end of the season, the airline’s entire long-haul fleet, with the exception of the B777 aircraft operating on the Caribbean-Indian Ocean network and the A380s in service will be fitted with the new Premium Voyageur cabin class.

An intermediary cabin between economy and business, Premium Voyageur is intended for customers looking for more comfort at a more affordable fare than business. This cabin is fitted with new seats offering 40% additional space compared with the Voyageur cabin (economy).