Air France brings the Airbus A380 to New York

Air France Airbus A380-861 F-WWSB (F-HPJA) (msn 033) XFW, originally uploaded by Airliners Gallery.

Air France (Paris) brought the new Airbus A380 to New York (JFK) yesterday (November 20, 2009). Operating as flight AF 380 it carried 380 winning bidders on the auction flight. The proceeds will go to humanitarian projects. Regular CDG-JFK service commences on November 23.

Here is the official AF press release:

This morning (November 20), at 11:39 am, Air France’s A380 took off from Paris-Charles de Gaulle, operating flight AF 380, the first transatlantic flight between Europe and the United States by A380. Among the passengers were the 380 winning bidders for seats on the inaugural Paris-New York – Paris flights. This auction raised proceeds of 300,000 euros which will finance five different humanitarian projects by charities chosen by the Air France Foundation.

The aircraft, registration F-GHJA, landed at New York-Kennedy airport at 1:20 local time, 7:20 Paris time.

The proceeds of this auction of seats on the two inaugural Paris-New York-Paris flights finally reached 300,000 euros, more than expected. The amount will thus finance 5 humanitarian projects for children in need instead of the three initially planned.

The benefits of the auction for the inaugural Paris-New York-Paris flights will go to several projects in aid of humanitarian associations for children in need all over the world. The Air France Foundation supports these projects.

Starting on Monday November 23, the A380 will operate daily scheduled flights:

AF 006 Paris-New York leaving at 1:30, arriving at 3:45 pm;
and AF 007 New York-Paris leaving at 7:15 pm, arriving at 8:35 the following day.

From Paris, Air France will operate the A380 on its Johannesburg route as from February 3, 2010 and will therefore be the first airline to operate the A380 to Africa.