Regional carrier Eastern Airways will launch three routes to Paris Orly next month in conjunction with Air France.

The first two services, those from East Midlands and Southampton, will commence on April 14. Cardiff-Paris Orly is effective April 21. See schedules below.

Services will operate daily on all three routes. Eastern Airways will be able to interline with Air France and a codeshare agreement is being finalised.

Roger Hage, Eastern’s commercial director, said:

“These three UK-France services will initiate the new Eastern Airways and Air France cooperation developing into a codeshare partnership in the course of this year.”

What do I think?

When I saw the headline I immediately thought of Paris Charles De Gaulle (CDG) airport. That is where Eastern could connect with almost all Air France international services.

Travelling between the two Paris airports is a chore and anyone relying on an international Orly-CDG connection will have to allow a long MCT (minimum connecting time).

Indeed some domestic flights from Paris Orly were cancelled as part of Air France’s agreement with the government over state aid. Nonetheless, there remain many domestic services on longer routes to cities like Marseille, Nice and Toulouse.

The main advantage of Paris Orly is its proximity to many areas of downtown Paris compared to the main CDG airport.

Flights are available to book on the Eastern Airways website and shortly via Air France’s website.

easternairways.com