Air France is taking yet another step upmarket with the launch of its own signature scent created by the master perfumer Francis Kurkdjian, who is the co-founder of the world-renowned fragrance house that shares his name, Maison Francis Kurkdjian.
The Maison is perhaps best known for the cult fragrance Baccarat Rouge 540, which is not only beloved by luxury fashion and beauty influencers on the soon-to-be-banned social media platform TikTok but is also the ‘go-to’ fragrance of Grammy award winner Olivia Rodrigo, as well as a host of other A-List celebrities.
Kurkdjian has now leant his sublime olfactory senses to help create a signature scent for Air France. Two years in the making, the scent has top notes of musk combined with mimosa, which Air France says adds a “sunny, natural vibrancy” to the scent.
Hidden in the depths of the scent are hints of jasmine and rose, which are designed to take “travelers on a real olfactory journey, capturing a specific moment in time.”
The scent has been called AF001, which is a reference to the airline’s 1970s heyday and the Concorde supersonic flights that used to whisk jet setters from Paris to New York in just three and a half hours.
The first lucky travelers will get to smell the fragrance for the time time on Wednesday as Air France adds the scent as a ‘welcome gesture’ at its luxurious La Première lounge in Paris Charles de Gaulle, as well as other premium lounges dotted throughout the airport.
Over the coming months, Air France will introduce the scent to other lounges around the world.
“I’m very proud to have created Air France’s first signature home fragrance,” commented Francis Kurkdjian, who launched his career in 1995 with the iconic ‘Le Mâle’ for Jean Paul Gaultier.
“It was the illusion of a ray of sunshine on the wings of an aircraft that inspired me to create this light, fresh, and comforting home fragrance,” Kurkdjian continued.
In recent years, Air France has really stepped up its game, introducing high-end premium cabins and improving service, both on the ground and in the air. In the next few years, the carrier also plans to introduce free, high-speed Starlink inflight Wi-Fi.
Unfortunately, last year’s Paris Olympic Games left a €160 million (US$172 million) dent in the airline’s finances during the third quarter as foreign tourists steered clear of the French capital during the sporting spectacular.
