BC Business
Air France | BCBusinessAir France will operate a Boeing 777 on the route.
Air France will introduce direct service five days a week from Vancouver Airport to Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle in March of next year.
YVR customers have long wanted a direct route to Paris, said Craig Richmond, Vancouver Airport Authority president and CEO, in a statement. According to Richmond, a recent survey of Metro Vancouver residents “showed Paris as the number one requested destination from YVR.” Air France will operate a Boeing 777-200 on the Vancouver–Paris route, with a seating capacity of 309 seats–35 in Business Class, 24 in Premium Economy and 250 in Economy. Seasonal service will start in March with three flights a week, increasing to five during the summer, and then back to three in September and October.
According to the Vancouver Airport Authority press release, the new service will add $13.7 million to B.C.’s GDP, $8.8 million in wages, and 248 jobs. It’s been a difficult year for France’s flagship airline, which saw its’ operating profit drop by a staggering €461 million (C$697 million) in the third quarter of 2014, compared to last year, largely due to the 14-day pilots’ strike in September, the longest in more than forty years.
Air France currently flies from Paris to Toronto (twice daily) and Montreal. The airline operated a flight from Seattle to Paris until 2012, when Delta Airlines took over the route.