Air France has just revealed plans to launch a new route to the United States, and I don’t think this addition will shock anyone.
Air France adds Paris to Orlando route
As of May 21, 2025, Air France will launch a new year-round flight between Paris (CDG) and Orlando (MCO). The flight will operate 4x weekly with the following schedule:
AF96 Paris to Orlando departing 5:05PM arriving 8:45PM
AF97 Orlando to Paris departing 11:00PM arriving 1:30PM (+1 day)
The 4,507-mile flight is blocked at 9hr40min westbound and 8hr30min eastbound. The flight will operate on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, in both directions.
Air France will use an Airbus A350-900 for the service, featuring 324 seats. This includes 34 business class seats, 24 premium economy seats, and 266 economy class seats (this will be Air France’s old A350 configuration, and not the new A350 configuration).
How Orlando route fits in Air France’s network
Orlando will be Air France’s 18th destination in the United States, and 25th destination in North America.
Orlando is of course a popular destination in the United States for those looking to go to amusement perks, and those wanting warm weather and sun. There’s not really a dominant US carrier in Orlando, as there’s substantial service from all of the “big three” US carriers, plus Southwest, low cost carriers, etc.
When it comes to long haul service, Orlando is quirky. Looking at the “big three” airline alliances, the only consistent, year-round transatlantic flights to Orlando are on British Airways and Virgin Atlantic, given how much Brits love the area. Delta is even operating a seasonal Orlando to London flight this winter.
There’s some other long haul service, ranging from Emirates’ Dubai flight, to Icelandair’s Keflavik flight, to Discover Airlines’ Frankfurt flight.
Ultimately this new service on the part of Air France should do reasonably well, you’d think, especially as part of the transatlantic joint venture consisting of Delta, Air France-KLM, and Virgin Atlantic:
- In summer, there’s lots of demand for Americans to travel to Europe, and there are also a surprising number of Europeans who frequently travel to Florida that time of year
- In winter, Florida is popular with Europeans, and there will also be some demand on the US-side, including for those connecting to destinations like India
Simply put, when you look at Air France’s current route map in the United States, Orlando kind of logically seems like the next destination. For context, Air France’s most recent adds in the United States prior to this have been Phoenix and Raleigh-Durham.
Bottom line
As of May 2025, Air France will launch a new 4x weekly flight between Paris and Orlando using an Airbus A350. This will be Air France’s 18th destination in the United States, and this is one of the surprisingly few year-round routes by a network carrier between Orlando and Europe.
What do you make of Air France adding service to Orlando?
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