Air France is expanding its direct service from Ottawa to Paris to seven days a week beginning in June and upgrading the route to a larger aircraft due to “escalating demand” for the flights, the Ottawa International Airport confirmed on Wednesday.
The airline will launch daily non-stop service between YOW and Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport on June 10, airport spokesperson Krista Kealey told OBJ in an email. Air France currently operates direct flights between Ottawa and Paris five days a week.
The carrier also plans to start using the larger 324-seat Airbus A350-900 airliner for its Ottawa-Paris route starting April 7, Kealey added. The Boeing 787-9 aircraft that Air France currently flies between the two cities can accommodate up to 279 passengers.
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“This is great news for the community and a testament to the route’s popularity,” Kealey said.
Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe also welcomed Air France’s decision to increase service between Paris and Canada’s capital.
In a post Wednesday morning on X, formerly known as Twitter, Sutcliffe called the additional flights “great news for local travellers and for our economy.”
The additional service to Paris is the latest indication that Ottawa’s airport continues to bounce back from the pandemic.
Last month, United Airlines announced it would increase the number of flights between YOW and Washington, D.C.’s Dulles International Airport from two trips to three each day starting this spring.
Kealey told OBJ in early February that United, the only U.S.-based carrier that currently operates direct flights to Ottawa, is “doing well with service to Washington-Dulles, Newark, and Chicago-O’Hare.”
She said traffic at Ottawa’s airport was at 80 per cent of pre-COVID levels as of last month and was on track to reach 2019’s total of 5.1 million passengers by the end of the year.
Meanwhile, Toronto-based Porter Airlines also continues to add to its Ottawa service, announcing last week it plans to launch daily flights between YOW and St. John’s, N.L., in June.
