Air France announces major expansion in Canada

Air France has announced that it will be increasing its presence in Canada, with the airline launching a new nonstop flight between its hub at Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport (CDG) and Macdonald-Cartier (YOW) airport in Ottawa in June 2023. The airline will also be restoring its route to Québec, which already operated last summer season.

The Ottawa route, the only nonstop route linking the Canadian capital to Europe, is going to be operated five times a week from June 27, 2023, with Airbus A330-200 aircraft fitted with 224 seats (36 in business, 21 in premium economy and 167 in economy class).

The service to Québec-Jean Lesage International Airport (YQB) will be operated thrice-weekly from May 2, 2023, with Boeing 787-9 aircraft.

Ottawa will become Air France’s fifth destination in Canada, the others being Montréal, Toronto, Vancouver and Québec.

These other destinations will also see frequencies increases. Montréal-Trudeau (YUL) is going to be serviced three times daily, Toronto-Pearson (YYZ) twice daily, and Vancouver (YVR) will see a daily service.

All together this represents a 25% increase with respect to the pre-pandemic capacity and makes Air France the top European carrier (by capacity) in the Canadian market.