Air France looking to scrap low-cost airline Joon

Air France is to look at ways of closing down its low-cost airline Joon and integrating Joon employees and aircraft into Air France.

The airline, aimed at younger clients, launched in late 2017, but Air France said the brand had been “difficult to understand from the outset”.

Air France said integrating Joon would lead to “many benefits”.

It said Joon, and then Air France, would honour all flights that had been sold or were on sale.

The airline said in a statement: “After much discussion with employees and customers alike, and in consultation with the unions, Air France has decided to launch a project studying the future of the Joon brand and the integration of Joon employees and aircraft into Air France.

“Despite the many positive impacts of Joon… the brand was difficult to understand from the outset for customers, for employees, for markets and for investors.”

It added that Air France would see many benefits from integration of the two businesses “thanks to fleet, brand, and product harmonisation”.

The low-cost model of flying has been well established on short-haul routes for years, and low-cost intercontinental flights are sold by a new breed of carriers such as Norwegian and Wow.

Joon flies to short-haul destinations in Europe, including Bergen, Madrid and Manchester, as well as further afield to places like South Africa, Brazil, and India.

Air France added: “The plurality of brands in the marketplace has created much complexity and unfortunately weakened the power of the Air France brand.”

Last October, another long haul budget operator, Primera Air, collapsed.

The airline had started offering long-haul flights from UK airports earlier in the year, having focussed on short-haul for 14 years.