Eastern Airways is to provide connections to Paris from three UK regional airports from next month.
Daily services will run from East Midlands, Cardiff and Southampton airports to Paris Orly in co-operation with Air France.
The East Midlands and Southampton flights start on April 14 , followed by Cardiff from April 21 offering a year-round links to the French hub plus onward connections with Air France. One-way fares from Cardiff start at £69.99.
The partnership sees the regional carrier return to East Midlands as a base carrier adding 25 crew and engineering roles.
The airline is deploying 72-seat ATR aircraft on the Orly routes, complementing an East Midlands to Newquay service starting March 31 and will act as a catalyst to further new services from the East Midlands hub.
Air France will sell seats via an interline agreement developing into full codeshare with Eastern Airways by the end of the year.
Paris Orly provides access to Disneyland Paris with shuttle buses from the airport to the parks and hotels.
Eastern Airways commercial director Roger Hage said: “We are delighted to be entering into this co-operation with Air France and opening up connectivity to Europe’s second biggest city for both business and leisure travellers and restoring direct access year-round to France.
“These first three new UK-France services from East Midlands, Southampton and Cardiff will initiate the new Eastern Airways and Air France co-operation, developing into a codeshare partnership in the course of this year.
“Each ensures a sustainable capacity development whereby not only direct access to Paris is offered, but onward connections to a myriad of destinations allowing business users much improved options but also an exciting and ever popular leisure offer, including Disneyland Paris celebrating its 30th anniversary this year to add to the Parisian charm the city is famous for.”
Air France-KLM UK and Ireland general manager Fahmi Mahjoub added: “This new co-operation between Air France and Eastern Airways is a very positive move and comes in response to the growing appetite for travel to Paris that we have noticed from all over the United Kingdom.
“Residents near Cardiff, Southampton and East Midlands will now be able to fly from their local airport and reach the magnificent capital of France with a direct service, an option that was not available to them before.”
East Midlands airport managing director Steve Griffiths added: “Today’s news is a very significant development for East Midlands airport (EMA) and the region we serve.
“This partnership with Eastern Airways and Air France opens up the world to our passengers bringing global destinations such as Africa, the Caribbean and South America within one-stop of EMA.
“Ongoing connectivity via a major European hub has been a strategic aim of this airport for some time and I’m thrilled that this opportunity has arisen.”
Cardiff airport aviation development manager Marc Watkins said: “It’s fantastic to welcome back another flag carrier to Cardiff airport post pandemic and offer people living in Wales another capital city connection which is not only an awe-inspiring destination in itself but also a gateway to onward connections.”
Southampton airport head of airline relations and marketing Christopher Tibbett said: “This is a fantastic route announcement from Air France and Eastern Airways offering a great addition to our summer schedule, building on partner airline KLM’s double-daily flights to Amsterdam.”