SHANGHAI – Air France is expected to increase flights and destinations to China to meet the growing needs on the Chinese market.

"After long and effective consultations, the French Government has signed a memorandum on Sino-French aviation relationship with its counterpart to push forward the airline's business in the Chinese market," French Transport Minister Thierry Mariani said at the 45th anniversary of Air France's presence in Shanghai which was held in the city on Friday.

Under the memorandum, the airline will increase its volume of passengers and cargo by 50 per cent by adding new flights and destinations to its market in China, Mariani said. But he didn’t give the details.

Air France now serves four destinations to China, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou in Guangdong province and Hong Kong, with a total of 38 flights a week, of which 12 weekly frequencies to Shanghai, said Bruno Matheu, Air France Executive Vice President.

The Air France KLM group now has 80 flights a week to China's eight destinations, making it the leading passenger airline between Europe and China. Its code-shared weekly flights with China Eastern and China Southern partners have reached 31, said Matheu.

"Air France KLM's growth in China has become one of our Group's strategic assets. It makes our global network and our service offer even more attractive and clearly contributes to strengthening Franco-Chinese relations," he said.