Racing ahead: AF's Jean-Pierre Hoss.Air France is having discussions with several Chinese airlines with a view to forming alliances as it develops its network to reach a target of 400 cities worldwide within five years.
AF now flies to 200 cities worldwide, and is concentrating on developing its longhaul services, according to AF executive vice-president Jean-Pierre Hoss.
"We are very strong on our own domestic market, very strong in our European network, but we have to develop ourselves where we are not so strong ... that is to say, on Asia and on North America, which are the two market leaders," he said.
"We are very interested in having this growth by our own means and also by the means of alliances."
Hoss said he did not see AF joining the Star Alliance, but "something similar".
AF has signed an agreement with Delta and Continental for north Atlantic routes, cooperates with Japan Air Lines on Japanese routes, and has an agreement with Indian Airlines and Air India, which has seen Air India using the Charles De Gaulle airport hub in Paris since November 1. "We have traditional strong cooperation with Vietnam Airlines and we are having now discussions with several carriers from China, from southeast Asia.
"Our objective is to have an agreement with a strong carrier in each part of the (Asian) region ... to weave a network."
AF Asia-Pacific vice-president, marketing, Marie-Joseph Male said "beyond" codesharing was important to give AF access to secondary points in some countries, such as China, and in turn provide other carriers with access to Europe.