XL Airways is looking for a new shareholder to live the American dream to the fullest

XL Airways likes Uncle Sam’s country.

The company has just announced the opening in June 1st, 2016, of a new flight between Paris Roissy-Charles de Gaulle (CDG) and Los Angeles (LAX).

There will be service to the city three times a week (Wednesdays, Saturdays, Sundays), until August 2016.

In September, only two weekly frequencies are scheduled.

The flights will take place onboard an Airbus A330-200, with two classes, a capacity of 364 seats of which 15 are in Premium class.

It will be the 4th destination after New York, Miami, and San Francisco.

Indeed, it has abandoned Las Vegas, launched in 2010, since the results didn’t meet expectations.

But thanks to the opening on Los Angeles, evoked by Laurent Magnin, CEO since 2010, the United States will become the first destination of the company by next summer and will account for half of its business turnover.

Indeed, it turns out that the country is a market with high potential, and it is quite necessary to find new sources of growth.

“The West Indies are not profitable and the Dominican Republic along with Mexico suffer from the rise of the dollar, which affects hotel purchases. These are not axis on which we can develop this summer,” explains Luc Bereni, Business Director.

However, the rise of the dollar compared to the euro incites Americans to cross the Atlantic.

In fact, for the first time in its history, the business turnover of the American BSP (ARC) was superior than that of the French BSP.

“We have to be nuanced on the data, because the direct sales in France account for half of our business,” specifies Luc Bereni.

In the end, onboard its XL planes, one passenger out of three is American. But the company is still lacking the means to develop its popularity to the general public.

“We are working very well with our GSA and we have partnered with distributors, especially aimed at ‘dry seat’ sales, and they sometimes include those seats in dynamic packages,” adds Luc Bereni.

The closing of Las Vegas, far from a failure, seems to be quite a judicious adaptation.

This removal has enabled to add three frequencies to San Francisco. Enough to improve by 5 point its fill-up rate along with its yield, thanks to an increase of sales of the Galaxie class.

It should soon be renamed Premium Galaxie and change its reservation code on the GDS, that will go from “C” (designing business for long-haul flights) to “W” (for Premium Eco classes of most companies.)

Enough to make the product more clear in the minds of travel agents and develop sales in the long run.

XL Airways also hopes to get back the market shares it lost in Open Jaw after the closing of Las Vegas. The American West being a particularly large region, it is necessary to offer at least two entry points to meet the demand of tour-operators.

In the end, the company would like to take things further. It is now studying the opening of new flights, leaving from Paris, and from the Province. Let’s remember that it had launched Marseille-New York, that was canceled due to a lack of aircrafts.

So it is impatiently waiting for the arrival of a new shareholder that would provide it with the necessary funds to find planes, enrich its network, and ensure the continuity of its activity.