From One Mile at a Time – link to full source story – Thanks to ML
Air France is adding a couple of cool new routes this winter, which I’d sure love to fly as an avgeek.
- Air France adds Pointe-à-Pitre to New York & Montreal flights
- Air France’s Caribbean island hopper flights
- Bottom line
Air France adds Pointe-à-Pitre to New York & Montreal flights
This winter, Air France will be adding two new North America routes out of the Caribbean. Specifically:
- As of November 23, 2021, Air France will fly twice weekly between Pointe-à-Pitre (PTP), Guadeloupe, and Montreal (YUL); the 2,133-mile flight will operate northbound on Tuesdays and Fridays, and southbound on Wednesdays and Saturdays
- As of November 24, 2021, Air France will fly twice weekly between Pointe-à-Pitre (PTP), Guadeloupe, and New York (JFK); the 1,832-mile flight will operate northbound on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and southbound on Thursdays and Sundays
Both of these routes will be operated by Air France’s Airbus A320 aircraft, featuring 168 seats. Air France has a subfleet of A320s based in the Caribbean, which feature the typical intra-Europe product, meaning that business class is simply economy with a blocked middle and improved service.
These flights are not yet bookable, but the routes should go on sale soon.
As far as competition on these routes goes:
- Both Air Canada and Air Transat intend to fly between Montreal and Guadeloupe this winter
- JetBlue intends to fly between New York and Guadeloupe this winter
So Air France will be facing some competition here. While Air France as such has great name recognition, people are unlikely to realize the airline would operate a route like this. Fortunately that’s an area where online travel agencies level the playing field.