Air France has a large presence in New York, with a minimum of four daily frequencies between New York JFK and Paris Charles De Gaulle Airport. In addition to that there are flights between the two cities on their joint venture partner, Delta, out of both JFK and Newark.
Charles De Gaulle Airport
Air France has just announced that as of June 2016 they’re adding a new daily flight between New York JFK and Paris Orly, which is Paris’ second biggest airport. The New York to Paris Orly flight will operate with the following schedule:
AF32 Paris Orly to New York JFK departing 11:00AM arriving 1:10PM
AF37 New York JFK to Paris Orly departing 6:05PM arriving 7:05AM (+1 day)
The flight will be operated by a Boeing 777-200 with 309 seats, including 35 business seats, 24 premium economy seats, and 250 economy seats. As of the time of this post the flight isn’t bookable yet.
Air France 777-200
At first I was a bit puzzled by the announcement. Is Air France trying to compete with OpenSkies, British Airways’ low cost subsidiary which operates between New York and Paris Orly? I was always under the impression they flew to Orly for the cost savings, and not because that was actually the destination they preferred.
But then I realized the real reason for the new route was that Air France serves many regional destinations primarily out of Paris Orly, and not out of Charles De Gaulle. There are some destinations Air France serves exclusively out of Paris Orly, but beyond that, they have more frequencies on many regional routes out of Orly. Previously passengers would have to schlep across Paris to take these flights, while they can now connect at the same airport.
This is very similar to British Airways’ recent route announcement, whereby they’re launching flights between New York JFK and London Gatwick. In addition to being able to say they fly from New York to three airports in London, this new route also enables British Airways to offer easier connections to many of their leisure destinations, many of which are only served out of London Gatwick.
Bottom line
It’s nice to see airlines launch routes intended to make the process of connecting easier. Not only are many destinations more accessible through Paris Orly than Charles De Gaulle, but in general it’s a much more pleasant airport at which to connect. Depending on where you’re going in Paris, arriving at Orly could also be more convenient than arriving at Charles De Gaulle.
What do you make of Air France’s new route between New York JFK and Paris Orly?
Why the picture of CDG in a story about Orly?
I'm surprised AF didn't launch this route earlier!
Let's face it it's easier to fly to many french regional airport on BA and LH than on AF from the US, now let's hope they do put on a real business lounge I am sure that all the local commuter will appreciate it and let's remember that many flight for western and north africa depart from orly too on different airline might be a way to easily connect between these place and the US
No ORY is more crowded than CDG... by law.
Even with 3 runways (only 2 at LHR), ORY is authorised not to go further 250 000 take-offs and landings on a yearly basis, so basically only 20% of the LHR slots.
AF serves about 27 domestic destinations in ORY, mainly metropolitan ones. So that's not the same type of activity for BA at LGW. In the past AF even served LRH (La Rochelle) from...
No ORY is more crowded than CDG... by law.
Even with 3 runways (only 2 at LHR), ORY is authorised not to go further 250 000 take-offs and landings on a yearly basis, so basically only 20% of the LHR slots.
AF serves about 27 domestic destinations in ORY, mainly metropolitan ones. So that's not the same type of activity for BA at LGW. In the past AF even served LRH (La Rochelle) from ORY.
AF has a flight to TLS every 15 minutes in the morning from ORY arriving and departing, so 4 taking-off and 4 landing per hour.
So ORY is more practical for a lot people from the regions.
But all of that is not why AF opens this route. I think AF wants to remind the competitors who is the main carrier on the New-York Paris route. And keep its market share.
Lafayette- BA (Open skies): we are coming!
Lafayette- Norwegian: we are coming!
Norwegian is said to open too a NY-ORY route or has a plan for that!
And the flight will depart from the same ORY Hall 3 gates where from BA departs.
This is a "we are not giving the market to the competitors", we fight.
AF is shrinking a little bit on long-haul the next years: so it has the people (too much already) and the planes for that.
And it may prove more profitable than going to Kuala-Lumpur.
So nothing about ORY lower cost base: we fight against the competition right now and the future one.
^^^Agreed. Orly is an easy airport. In addition, if you don't have priority security screening CDG can be hellish, while I've always found Orly to be pretty manageable. Even when I'm not flying SkyTeam I can usually still get away with using my Delta FF card through the SkyPriority lane. Not a nice airport, but not having to disembark, walk, walk, take the train, walk, walk...wait for bags AND THEN exit...that'll be nice.
One of the primary benefits of Orly vs CDG is simply that it's quicker to get to the city. Sorta like LGA vs JFK, DCA vs IAD, and so on.
That's especially true if you're talking rush-hour traffic from CDG vs ORY. On the RER-B, it's a bit closer, but can really depend on how well you time the ORLY VAL connection.
Finally, the ease of use at Orly is identical to that of DCA...
One of the primary benefits of Orly vs CDG is simply that it's quicker to get to the city. Sorta like LGA vs JFK, DCA vs IAD, and so on.
That's especially true if you're talking rush-hour traffic from CDG vs ORY. On the RER-B, it's a bit closer, but can really depend on how well you time the ORLY VAL connection.
Finally, the ease of use at Orly is identical to that of DCA - super efficient and very quick from curb to plane, never more than a few hundred meter walk. Whereas CDG, especially actually for Air France, can be a massive trek from curb to gate depending on terminal (less so in T1 with *A, but that's only if you understand the airport well).
(From someone living in Paris who travels every week)
Is Charles de Gaulle too crowded or something? I totally see why leisure dest are served out of LGW and not LHR, but is CDG slot-restricted as well? Or is it because they want to save money by flying out of ORY?
Why would you call BA OpenSkies a "low cost subsidiary"?
They may not have the hottest newest business product but they have quite a premium configuration (and used to be all business at one point) and have lie-flat seats.