Air France, not millennials, may be killing Joon, its millennial-focused airline

Back in 2017, Air France announced that it was young, hip, connected, and appealing to young people. Or at least it hoped to be with its new airline brand, Joon.

The airline brand was aimed at “the millennials (18- to 35-year-olds), whose lifestyles revolve around digital technology,” and who supposedly wanted to continue their digital-first adventures on flights around the world. However, Air France may have missed the memo that millennials are broke, because when Joon launched, Air France was adamant about the fact that Joon was not a low-cost airline.

Fast-forward to today: Air France just announced that it is “studying the future of the Joon brand,” because it has now realized that “the brand was difficult to understand from the outset for customers, for employees, for markets and for investors.” It turns out, trying to convince broke millennials to buy expensive airplane tickets–when Ryanair is right there–may not have been the best idea.

The decision is not final, but the announcement includes a lot of words about “the plurality of brands in the marketplace,” and how they’re weakening “the Air France brand.” It also talks about the need to simplify the “brand portfolio” to capitalize “on the Air France mother brand.”

That’s all to say the writing seems to be on the wall for Joon. If you were a millennial flying on Joon–or trying to reconnect with the youth by booking on Joon–you’re still cleared to take off until the airline completes its assessment of the brand. Once that is completed, Air France will take over the flights.

If Joon does disappear, don’t add it to the laundry list of things millennials have killed. Add it to the list of things created by confused marketers as they try to appeal to kids these days.