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LATEST: All the new flights to and from France this autumn

Despite some travel changes ahead, people in France have plenty of new flight routes that might interest them this autumn whether it's to get home or to get away. Here is The Local's listing.

Published: 6 September 2024 15:06 CEST
Updated: 14 September 2024 08:14 CEST
LATEST: All the new flights to and from France this autumn
An Easyjet Airbus A319-111 flying in July 2022. (Photo by Pau BARRENA / AFP)

This year, there will be some travel changes for passengers – including the introduction of the EES biometric passport checks – but there are also new flight services that might help some people find an easier route home or just to get away.

The Local has created a list of the several new flights from France to international and domestic destinations starting up this autumn 2024.

Here are some that you can take advantage of;

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EasyJet

The budget airline EasyJet has announced several new flights to and from France, according to Air Journal.

Paris-Newcastle – Six flights a week (every day except Saturday), starting October 27th

Paris-Oslo – Three flights a week (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) starting on October 28th

Paris-Fuerteventura – Starting November 2nd

Paris-Tromsø – Two flights a week (Thursday and Sunday) starting November 28th

Nice-Madrid – Up to 4 flights a week (Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday), starting on October 27th

Nice-Strasbourg – Five flights a week (Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday) starting October 27th

Nice-Lanzarote – Two flights a week (Wednesday and Saturday) starting November 2nd

Lyon-Berlin Brandenburg – Two flights a week (Friday and Sunday) November 8th

Bordeaux-Zurich – Two flights a week (Thursday and Sunday) starting November 7th

Nantes-Prague – Three flights a week (Monday, Wednesday, Saturday) starting October 30th

Strasbourg-Barcelona – Two flights a week (Monday and Friday) starting October 28th

Strasbourg-Nice – Five flights a week (Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday) starting October 28th

Strasbourg-London Gatwick – Three flights a week (Monday, Friday and Sunday) starting November 11th

Transavia

The low-cost subsidiary of Air France, will also open six new international routes for the period of October 27th to March 29th, also reported by Air Journal.

These include Nice-Dakar (one per week, outbound Sunday, return Saturday, starting October 27th), Lille-Dakar (two flights per week, starting on October 30th, with outbound on Wednesday and Saturday, and returns on Tuesdays and Fridays).

There are also flights planned for Strasbourg-Algiers (twice a week, Wednesday and Saturday), and Rennes-Marrakech (two flights a week, mostly Thursday and Sunday). 

Air France

Paris-Charles de Gaulle – Zanzibar – Kilimanjaro – Three times a week (Monday, Wednesday, Saturday) starting on November 18th. This will replace the current Paris-Zanzibar-Dar Es Salaam route, though Dar Es Salam will remain accessible via Amsterdam, according to the Air France website.

Paris-Charles de Gaulle – Salvador de Bahia – Three times a week (Monday, Thursday and Wednesday) starting on October 28th.

Keep in mind that Air France plans to shift nearly all its domestic and international flights to Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport by 2026. This is a phased process which began in November 2023 and will continue over the next two years with gradually fewer and fewer flights from Orly.

Volotea

As for Spanish low-cost airline, Volotea, will add two new routes from Bordeaux airport after Ryanair departs in November.

Bordeaux-Marrakech – Two flights a week (Tuesday and Saturday) starting November 5th

Bordeaux-Madrid – Three flights a week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) starting November 6th

What about the Bordeaux airport?

In May, low-cost airline Irish Ryanair announced it would close its base of operations in the French city of Bordeaux in November following a failure to find an agreement with the airport about fees.

The airline has been operating flights to and from around 40 different destinations around Europe from Bordeaux-Merignac (BOD), which was as of 2023 the eighth busiest French airport with 6.6 million passengers each year.

The head of route development for the airport, Cyrielle Clément, told Actu France “our first priority is to recover a large number of destinations that were only operated by Ryanair. As for the others, we’re working hard to identify the best companies to take over”.

Clément admitted that “in one year, it is impossible to recover all of the passenger volume, but we can meet demand with less frequency.”

READ MORE: What will happen to flights from Bordeaux airport after Ryanair leaves?

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CLIMATE CRISIS

French court approves environmental tax on airports and motorways

France's highest constitutional authority has approved the creation of a new tax on airports and motorway operators, with the extra tax on high-polluting travel methods intended to fund greener alternatives.

Published: 13 September 2024 16:16 CEST
French court approves environmental tax on airports and motorways

The new tax – known as the taxe sur les infrastructures de transports longue distance (tax on the infrastructure of long-distance transport) – was passed by the previous government at the end of 2023, but a challenge was lodged with the Conseil Constitutionnel.

However on Thursday the Conseil issued its ruling, and gave approval for the new tax to be put into effect.

It is a corporate tax, levied on airport management firms and the private companies which operate the France’s autoroute (motorway) network.

The tax will be levied on any company in those sectors which has sales of at least €120 million and a break-even point of 10 percent – it is estimated that it will apply to the operators of France’s larger airports such as Paris (Orly and Charles De Gaulle), Nice, Marseille and Lyon plus the larger companies that operate autoroutes such as Vinci and Eiffage.

The money raised from the tax is intended to help fund France’s ‘ecological transition’ including the move to greener transport methods such as taking the train or swapping to an electric car.

It is estimated that the tax will raise around €150 million a year from airports, and €280 million a year from motorway operators.

The companies had argued that the tax will unfairly persecute larger transport operators, while making French airports less competitive compared to their European neighbours.

Airports say the tax may result in an increase in ticket prices for travellers, who already pay a tax surcharge of €3 per economy class ticket and €18 per business or first-class ticket.

It will be harder for autoroute companies to increase toll prices to compensate, since the percentage that tolls can rise by each year is capped by the government. 

Since 2023, a small number of domestic flights in France have been banned if it is possible to travel between the two destinations by train in less than two-and-a-half hours. This has seen routes between Paris and Bordeaux, Lyon and Nantes axed. 

The approval from the Conseil Constitutionnel removes the last legal obstacle to the new tax, but it is not clear at this stage when it will go into effect.

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