Air France will stop its connections from Orly, except to Corsica

Air France will leave in 2026 Orly airport. The company will consolidate its operations from and to Paris at Charles-de-Gaulle airport, with the exception of connections to Corsica, it officially announced this Wednesday. She justifies this decision by a “structural fall in demand”.

Six lines from Orly will be eliminated, three towards Overseas (Pointe-à-Pitre in Guadeloupe, Fort-de-France in Martinique and Saint-Denis in Reunion) and three others in mainland France (Toulouse, Marseille and Nice ). The “low-cost” of the French airline group, Transaviawill take over for the last three at Orly, said Air France in a press release.

Éric Ciotti, president of the Republican party and deputy for Alpes-Maritimes, already deplored this situation on Tuesday evening. “This decision without any consultation is shameful and scandalous. I will oppose it with all my strength. I have just informed the Prime Minister of this announcement which disdains the territories”, he writes on (ex-Twitter).

“The development of videoconferencing, the reduction of domestic business travel and the shift to trains” are all justifications put forward by Air France. The company mentions a reduction of “40%, and even 60% for daytime round trips” concerning “domestic connections departing from Orly”.

These figures are consistent with those of the Paris airports manager, Groupe ADP, which, during the first nine months of the year on domestic routes, only found 75.7% of the number of passengers for the corresponding period of 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic. Although demand for travel for leisure and family reasons has exploded since the health crisis, it has not compensated for the losses in business travel. Orly, taken in isolation, however, is operating slightly above pre-crisis levels, at 100.3% of 2019 passengers since the start of 2023.

Internal mobility and voluntary departures

The group defends itself by explaining that its choice to concentrate its activities in Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle will strengthen “the connectivity of the overseas regions and territories”. He adds that the capacity of domestic connections will correspond to 90% of current practices and 100% for Overseas.

Air France mentions a “limited impact” for the employment of employees based on the Toulouse, Marseille and Nice sites. He promises that the consequences will be managed with internal mobility and voluntary departures. “An information consultation process with staff representative bodies will start very soon as well as negotiations with representative union organizations. »

This decision also comes at a time when, for the first time, a metro line will soon connect Paris and Orly airport. The extension of line 14 is due to be inaugurated next year.