Air France has again extended operations with the Airbus A318, keeping the increasingly rare narrowbody in its schedule until March 27, 2027.
The latest timetable update was identified by AeroRoutes. Air France had previously scheduled its remaining A318s through November 8, 2026, already extending the life of a fleet that is gradually being replaced by Airbus A220-300s.
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The new schedule adds almost five months of operations and means the A318 will survive into the airline’s 2027 summer timetable transition.
Between November 9 and March 27, the aircraft is scheduled to appear on a broad selection of short-haul services from Paris Charles de Gaulle, rather than being confined to a handful of routes during its final months.
Regular destinations include Barcelona, Berlin, Bologna, Bordeaux, Brest, Copenhagen, Dublin, Lisbon, Lyon, Madrid, Marseille, Milan Linate and Malpensa, Montpellier, Munich, Nantes, Nice, Rome, Toulouse, Turin, Venice and Warsaw.
Several other appearances will be limited to specific periods. A318 flights to Bergen are scheduled between December 24 and January 2, Amsterdam between February 28 and March 22 and Malaga between February 28 and March 25. The aircraft is also listed for individual or limited services to Vienna and Zagreb.
The extension does not indicate a change in Air France’s longer-term fleet policy. The airline has repeatedly said its remaining A318s and A319s will be replaced by the A220-300, former CS300.
Air France was once the world’s largest operator of the A318, a model that became a commercial failure for Airbus. Only 80 were built, compared with thousands of larger A319s, A320s and A321s.
The airline received its first A318 in 2003 and eventually operated 18. Their relatively small capacity made them useful on thinner European routes, but their economics became increasingly unfavorable compared with newer narrowbodies.
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Air France currently has only four A318s remaining in service. The type has become exceptionally rare worldwide, with only a handful still used in regular airline operations more than two decades after its introduction.
The replacement A220-300 offers substantially lower fuel consumption per seat and more capacity than the A318. Air France selected the type in 2019 with an order for 60 aircraft, eventually making it central to the renewal of its smaller narrowbody fleet.
