How Many Airbus A330s Is Air France Still Flying?

With

five A330-200s apparently retired
, Air France is operating a fleet of around 10 A330-200s

with a total of 11 or 12 remaining in inventory. These will be phased out as it

receives its new fleet of A350-900s
, but until then, they continue to connect France with many destinations in Africa and beyond. After the A330s are phased out, Air France’s

widebody fleet will be made up of A350s, Boeing 787s, and newer examples of the Boeing 777-300ER.

Air France, the flag carrier of France

Air France is the flag carrier of France

and was first formed in 1933 with the merger of several French airlines (Air Orient, Air Union, Compagnie Générale Aéropostale, Compagnie Internationale de Navigation Aérienne, and Société Générale de Transport Aérien). Air France’s subsidiaries include Air France Hop, Transvia France, and Servair (it has a 50.01% interest in Servair).

Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying

The primary hubs of Air France are the two Paris international airports: Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris Orly-Paris. Orly functions as the primary domestic hub. It merged with the Netherlands’ KLM

in 2003, although the two airlines continue to operate their own brands.

Air France’s current inventory:

• Airbus A220: 41
• Airbus A320 family: 64
• Airbus A330: 10 or 11
• Airbus A350: 37
• Boeing 777: 63
• Boeing 787 Dreamliner: 10

Photo: Air France

Historically, Air France has operated some of the world’s most iconic passenger jets. It was one of only two airlines (along with British Airways) to operate the supersonic Concorde

. Air France operated a fleet of seven Concordes, the same as British Airways.

Air France was also one of the airlines to purchase the Airbus A380 Superjumbo. It took delivery of 10 A380s. However,

Air France chose to cut its losses on the inefficient quad-engine
and was one of the first airlines to retire the fleet in 2020 during the pandemic. It also scrapped the last of its quad-engined Airbus A340s at the same time.

Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying

Air France has also historically operated a total of 73 Boeing 747 Jumbos. The last of these were retired in 2016. This means that 10 years ago, Air France was operating three types of quad-engined passenger jets. Today, it operates none.

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The end coming for another widebody

The Air France mainline brand operates a fleet of around 226 aircraft or around 336 aircraft with subsidiaries. The fleet is made up of a mixture of Airbus and Boeing aircraft. All of its short-haul aircraft belong to the Airbus A320 family of aircraft while widebody aircraft are a combination of widebody Airbus A330 and A350 and Boeing 777 and 787 Dreamliner aircraft.

Air France has retired three types of widebodies over the last ten years, the A380, A340, and Boeing 747, and these are soon to be joined by a fourth, the Airbus A330. Air France took delivery of a total of 16 A330s. Air France has not purchased the current replacement generation of A330s, the A330neo.

Simple Flying reported in October 2024 that Air France was in the process
of retiring its aging fleet of A330-200 widebody aircraft. It was noted that five planes had been withdrawn from service, destined for retirement. These planes are stored at Tarbes-Lourdes-Pyrénées Airport.

Planespotters.net lists one of these, F-GZCC, as scrapped with the remainder in storage. Air France has a fleet of 11 remaining A330-200s. Nine of these are active, one is in maintenance, and one (F-GZCE) is stored at LDE.

However, data provided by ch-aviation lists only nine A330-200s remaining in active service, while the airline has a total of 12 remaining in inventory. It also says the minimum retirement date for the type of Air France service is January 2026.

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Second storage of Air France A330-200

Planespotters.net shows that no new aircraft have been withdrawn from service since Simple Flying reported on the first wave of retirements in 2024.

In fact, one aircraft, F-GZCE, was pulled from storage at TLS and returned to service. It has since been withdrawn from Air France service for a second time. That aircraft is now 23.0 years old and since March 3rd, 2025 it has once again been placed in storage (this time at LDE). It spent much of its final flights connecting Paris with destinations in Africa.

Photo: Air France

Interestingly, its final commercial flight was from the coastal Congolese city of Pointe-Noire. This flight was conducted with a fifth freedom flight between the Angolan capital city of Lunda and Pointe-Noire on its way back to France.

Pointe-Noire is the second-largest city in the Republic of Congo after the capital of Brazzaville. The Republic of Congo should not be confused with the neighboring, larger Democratic People’s Republic of Congo (DRC), whose capital is Kinshasa just across the river from Brazzaville. Congo-Brazzaville was formerly a French colony, while the DRC was a Belgian colony.

A large number of the A330’s final flights were to Francophone destinations. These included Chad’s capital of N’Djamena, Cameroon’s city of Douala, Gabon’s capital of Libreville, Togo’s capital of Lome, Congo-Brazzaville’s city of Pointe-Noire as well as Lebanon’s Beruit.

Other final destinations included Bengaluru in India, Malabo in Equatorial Guinea, Sint Maarten in the Caribbean, Abuja the capital of Nigeria, and New York-JFK.

Photo: Air France

As of the time of writing (March 23rd, 2025), the other stored A330-200s are listed by Planespotters.net as ‘historic’. However, F-GZCE is still listed as in inventory. It’s possible it could return to service again before eventually being scrapped.

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Replaced by Airbus A350-900s

The A330-200s are being replaced by the next-generation and larger A350-900s. These are also replacing the airlines’ Boeing 777-200ERs and older Boeing 777-300ERs. Air France’s fleet of A330-200s is now an average of 22.3 years old, while the Boeing 777-200s are even older at 24.7 years old.

Air France operates a large fleet of 43 Boeing 777-300ERs that are now on average 16.6 years old. The oldest of these is now 21 years old, while the youngest is around nine years old.

Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying

Airbus notes, “The A350 family includes the latest technology. It requires 25% less fuel than previous generation aircraft (777-200ER and 777-300ER) and will be 100% SAF compatible by 2030.”

In the 2023 financial year, the Air France group received seven new A350-900s, and now it has a total of 37 examples in service (ch-aviation shows 36 A350s in service). Planespotters shows Air France has another A350-900 on order. Overall, the Air France-KLM group has placed orders for 50 A350-900 and A350-1000 aircraft with options for another 40 examples.

“The two versions, the A350-900 and the longer fuselage A350-1000, fly efficiently on any sector from short-haul to ultra-long-haul routes up to 9,700nm, carrying 300-410 passengers in typical three-class configurations, and up to 480 passengers in a single-class layout.” – Airbus

Whereas the A330-200 is configured with 224 seats in Air France service, the A350-900s come with two seating configurations. One has 324 seats and the other 292 seats.

Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying

The smaller A350-900 has a max range of 8,500 nautical miles, a max seating capacity of 440 passengers, and a max takeoff weight of 283 tonnes. The larger A350-1000 variant has a slightly longer 8,700 nautical mile range with a max seating capacity of 480 passengers and a max takeoff weight of 322 tonnes.

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Air France-KLM’s order for Airbus A350F freighters

Air France KLM Martinair Cargo (AFKLMP) has also ordered the upcoming Airbus A350 freighter, called the A350F. However, it has recently been reported that it is reducing its freighter orders from eight aircraft to six. The two remaining A350Fs will be replaced by two Airbus A350-900 passenger aircraft. That is in addition to the current order of 50 A350s, bringing the total to 52.

Three are to be operated by Air France with the other three operated by KLM’s subsidiary Martinair. AFKLMP currently operates two Boeing 777Fs and four Boeing 747-400Fs.

Photo: Airbus

These freighters are expected to replace Air France’s Boeing 777-200F cargo aircraft and KLM/Martinair’s Boeing 747-400F freighters. Most of the Boeing 747s flying today are freighters.

The A350F has been delayed. It was expected to enter service in 2026, but it is now not expected until the second half of 2027.

Conclusion

Air France has 10 to 12 Airbus A330-200s in inventory of which nine are currently active. These are in the process of being withdrawn and being replaced by newer, larger, and more efficient Airbus A350-900 aircraft. The Air France-KLM group now has a total of 52 passenger A350-900 and A350-1000s on order, together with another six A350Fs.