French national carrier Air France has announced it will push ahead with the expansion of its global network as the carrier prepares to welcome tens of thousands of extra visitors to France for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. For the summer of 2024, Air France will operate to 85 long-haul destinations across 74 countries worldwide, representing 9% growth over 2023.
North America appears to be the big winner in the announcement. In the summer of 2024, Air France will fly to destinations in the US over 210 times a week, serving a total of 17 destinations – Atlanta (ATL), Boston (BOS), Chicago (ORD), Dallas (DFW), Denver (DEN), Detroit (DTW), Houston (HOU), Los Angeles (LAX), Miami (MIA), Minneapolis (MSP), New York (JFK), New York Newark (EWR), Phoenix (PHX), Raleigh Durham (RDU), San Francisco (SFO), Seattle (SEA) and Washington-Dulles (IAD).
It will also operate almost 60 fights to five Canadian cities – Montreal, Quebec City, Ottawa, Toronto, and Vancouver.
Overall, in terms of long-haul services, the carrier will see capacity increase by 9% over 2023. It will commence new routes from its hub located at Paris-Charles De Gaulle Airport (CDG) to Phoenix (PHX) three times per week using Boeing 787-9s and resume its daily service to Minneapolis-St Paul Airport (MSP). Additionally, the carrier will extend its services to Raleigh-Durham, by increasing the number of weekly flights to seven from three during the northern winter season 2024/25.
Specifically for the acclaimed Cannes Film Festival in May 2024, Air France will operate two special flights between Los Angeles (LAX) and Nice (NCE) using Airbus A350-900s.
Elsewhere on the long-haul network, the airline will be expanding its daily Abu Dhabi (AUH) service from Paris-Charles de Gaulle it introduced in the winter of 2023 to operate throughout the summer of 2024. It will also be resuming its direct Dar Es Salam, Tanzania (DAR) service that was inaugurated in the summer of 2023, with three weekly flights as a continuation of its Zanzibar service.
Further afield, Air France will be offering more flights to Japan, including twice daily flights between Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Tokyo-Haneda (HND) to operate alongside its services to Tokyo-Narita (NRT) which operate four times per week.
The carrier will Increase frequencies on key African and Indian Ocean routes. Cotonou in Benin (COO) and Antananarivo (TNR) in Madagascar will enjoy daily flights. There will also be two daily flights to Cameroon, shared between Yaoundé (NSI) and Douala (DLA), while flights to Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo (BZV) will now be flown by one of the carrier’s Airbus A350-900s.
To complement the carrier’s long-haul expansion plans, the carrier will continue the rollout of its new cabin interiors aboard its fleets of Boeing 777-300ERs and Airbus A350-900s. Air France’s ongoing refurbishment program of these fleets will continue throughout the summer of 2024 with new cabin experiences for passengers traveling in the carrier’s business, premium economy, and economy cabins.
Short-haul growth
On the short-haul side of its operation, the airline will serve 102 destinations, which will include 45 seasonal routes both in France and throughout Europe.
Three new routes will be introduced from Paris-Charles de Gaulle to Verona (VRN) in Italy, Narvik-Lofoten (EVE) in Norway, and Kalamata (KLX) in Greece. The Verona flights will operate three times per week from April 2, 2024, while services to Narvik-Lofoten operate on Saturdays only from June 15 to August 31, 2024. Kalamata flights will operate weekly from July 6 to August 31, 2024.
Additionally, flights to Tromsø (TOS) in Norway, until now only available in winter, will be extended through the summer period, with up to two flights a week from Paris using Airbus A319s.
Elsewhere in the Air France-KLM Group, Air France’s low-cost subsidiary, Transavia France, will fly to 116 destinations in 33 countries via 206 routes. Once again, it will become the busiest top low-cost airline operating out of any Paris airport.