Air France To Stop Most Paris Orly Flights

Air France has announced a significant adjustment of its domestic flights, looking ahead with the removal of Paris Orly.

Air France To Say Goodbye To Paris Orly

By 2026, Air France, the country’s flag carrier, has announced that it intends to operate domestic and international flights from Paris Charles de Gaulle.

However, the only route that’ll continue from Paris Orly is Air France’s connection towards Corsica. This has to continue per the Public Service Order. The airline wants to honour these commitments.

A departure thus from Paris Orly is significant for the future of the Air France long-term network. Especially when factoring in the Air France-KLM group and how relevant airlines play a role in helping structure networks.

Transavia To Play Role At Paris Orly

Transavia will become the primary operator from Paris Orly into the future as part of the significant Air France network reshift.

This has also been made possible thanks to the addition of the Airbus A320neo. Air France says the A320neos will offer a 15% reduction in fuel consumption and CO2 emissions and a further 50% reduction in noise footprint.

Looking Ahead For Paris Orly

Between now and Air France’s departure from Paris, Orly, the company remains committed to serving French overseas departments, Toulouse, Marseille, Nice and others.

However, as it looks ahead towards removal of service from this airport, it’ll gradually increase flights from Paris Charles de Gaulle to Toulouse, Marseille, Nice, Pointe-à-Pitre, Fort-de-France and Saint-Denis de La Réunion.

As a result of this commitment, Paris won’t lose capacity on crucial routes just because Air France is axing these flights from Orly.

Why Is Air France Leaving Paris Orly?

Air France notes that the demand for business travel has shifted substantially over recent history.

The airline says it saw a 40% drop and even as far as a 60% drop in day return trips. Thus, it needs to adapt its operations for many other reasons.

Adapting is crucial to airlines’ long-term survival within the aviation industry.

Air France’s Current Orly Operation

Air France-KLM has a strong presence in Paris Orly, per Cirium. For October 2023, Transavia France had 3,307 flights, representing 34% of the flight’s share. This percentage point equates to some 624,000 seats.

Air France sat at 1,187 seats with 12% of the flight’s share, equating to just over 200,000 seats. Thanks to the broader Air France-KLM Group, they represent a substantial flight share percentage of close to 50%.

Other airlines between the Air France-KLM group include Vueling Airlines, EasyJet, Royal Air Maroc and Corsair. These standings are based on monthly flight data per Cirium.