New airline ‘for millennials’ opens for bookings

Air France has launched a new airline aimed at “millennial” travellers. Joon will target working 18- to 35-year-olds, though any adult can use the airline.

Air France wants to bring down costs to compete against Gulf carriers on long-haul routes, and against budget carriers such as Norwegian Air on short-haul routes. Joon – from the French word "jeune" meaning young – is based in Charles de Gaulle airport, and will begin flying on December 1st.

It is now taking bookings for four cities in Europe: Barcelona, Berlin, Lisbon and Porto, costing from €39 each way. There will be long-haul flights to Fortaleza in Brazil and Mahe in the Seychelles next summer.

Joon’s visual identity will be based on electric blue livery.

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Staff uniforms will be casual urban clothing such as Polos, skinny jeans and sneakers. Customers will be able to use YouJoon to stream digital media to their own devices. Each seat will have its own USB power socket.

There will be two flight classes: economy and business class. All customers will receive free tea, coffee and soft drinks. Catering will be included in the business seats, and paid for in economy. The menu will include healthy options, 20 per cent organic products, and high-energy fruit juices.

The chief executive is Jean-Michel Mathieu, who has worked in sales, digital and revenue management within the Air France-KLM group.

In a webinar to launch the service, Mathieu said: “We have been working to define a new offering in the landscape of airlines, between classic and low-cost. Joon is a little sister of Air France and will want to innovate, to surprise and always do so with a benevolent mindset.”

Mathieu said: “We wanted the uniform to be relaxed and do something that was disruptive to what exists in the airline industry and wanted our staff to be a bit like our customers but they can be clearly recognised. Hence the blue we have chosen. We wanted it to feel French.”

Joon joins a number of Air France sub-brands that include Hop, a domestic French carrier, and Transavia, a leisure brand based at Orly airport in the south of Paris.