(Reuters) – Air France announced on Wednesday a plan to consolidate all its domestic and international flights departing from Paris-Charles de Gaulle by the summer of 2026, thus leaving the Paris-Orly hub with the exception of connections to Corsica.
The group attributes this decision to a “structural fall” in domestic demand, notably reporting a 40% drop in traffic on domestic lines departing from Orly between 2019 and 2023.
“The development of videoconferencing, the reduction in domestic business travel and the shift to the train (…) lead to a structural fall in demand on the domestic network,” the airline said in a press release.
Air France will still operate its routes from Paris-Orly to Toulouse, Marseille, Nice and Overseas by 2026 and has indicated that Transavia should take over after this date.
The impact on employment would be “limited” in the provinces and “managed solely on the basis of mobility or voluntary departures”, while the needs at Paris-Charles de Gaulle should guarantee “equivalent employment” to the employees concerned.
(Reporting Stéphanie Hamel, editing by Kate Entringer)
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