Air France-KLM orders 4 Airbus A350 freighters

Air France-KLM is converting the letter of intent signed by the company in December for the purchase of four Airbus A350 Freighters into a final order, with options for four more aircraft. The Franco-Dutch aviation group announced this on Tuesday. These A350 cargo planes are stationed at Paris Charles de Gaulle

The aircraft must increase Air France's so-called full freighter capacity. Currently, Air France Cargo only has two Boeing 777 Freighters, in addition to the cargo capacity of the airline's more than 100 wide-body passenger aircraft.

Air France-KLM will be one of the launch customers of the A350F, which was only introduced by Airbus last year. According to Airbus, the A350F offers 11 percent more cargo volume and 15 percent less fuel consumption compared to older generation aircraft such as the Boeing 777F.

Air France has been flying A350 passenger planes for some time now. Originally it was intended that KLM would also fly with A350 passenger aircraft, but instead the Dutch company received more Boeing 787s to simplify the longhaul fleet.

"This order embodies Air France-KLM's determination to strengthen its position in the booming freight sector"

said Ben Smith, the CEO of Air France-KLM.

"The Airbus A350 passenger version has played an important role in improving our economic and environmental performance, while also proving to be a passenger favorite. We are excited to be one of the launch customers of the cargo version, which will greatly increase our capacity and provide us with the resources to continue to provide the best service to our customers around the world."

he added.