Air France's 'Millennial Airline' Joon Is Officially Axed

Air France said Thursday that it's officially canceling its budget brand aimed at millennial flyers, Joon, after only a year of operation.

Rumors had been swirling for about a month that Joon was on the chopping block after Air France-KLM's new CEO Benjamin Smith took the helm of the aviation group. Reuters reported back in December 2018 that Smith “doesn’t understand the positioning or identity of Joon," which branded itself as a youthful, modern and inexpensive option for flyers.

Apparently, Smith wasn't the only person who was confounded by Joon's target customer base. "The brand was difficult to understand from the outset for customers, for employees, for markets and for investors," Air France said in a statement Thursday. "The plurality of brands in the marketplace has created much complexity and unfortunately weakened the power of the Air France brand."

Joon's fleet and staff will be folded into the larger Air France brand, including the new Airbus A350 it has on order. The airline operated 15 aircraft, including four Airbus A340s, which TPG staff reviewed last year.

According to the company, all flights that have been sold, or will be sold in the future, will be operated by Joon until the brand re-integration is complete, at which point the flights would be taken over by Air France.

The exact timeline for the integration remains unclear. Request for comment to Air France were unreturned by time of publication.