LONG BEACH, Calif. — Air France will add Orlando to its route map.
The airline will begin four-times weekly flights between Orlando and Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport on May 21. The service will be the first between the theme-park capital and Paris since prior to the pandemic, when Norwegian operated mostly weekly service connecting Orlando with Paris Orly.
Air France also previously flew to Orlando but exited the market back in 2012 after just 15 months, Cirium flight schedule data shows.
In an interview Wednesday at the Air Passenger Experience Association and Future Travel Experience conference here, Air France vice president of commercial Boaz Hulsman said that Orlando’s growth is one reason the airline believes the time is right to try again.
“Florida has changed a bit,” he said. “There has been quite an influx. And we expect demand out of Orlando to be much stronger than it was before.”
Air France anticipates demand for the route to be split 50/50 between flyers originating in France and customers from the U.S.
“Orlando is known as the theme park capital of the world. But we also know the draw of Paris and France and see that across the U.S.,” Hulsman said.
The central Florida city, he added, is the largest unserved U.S. market from Paris.
Air France will operate the route on an Airbus A350-900 jet that features business, premium economy and economy cabins. Orlando will be the airline’s 18th U.S. destination.