OTTAWA — Air France has inaugurated its new nonstop flight between Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Ottawa, making it the only airline to operate direct flights between Canada’s capital and Europe.
Ottawa marks Air France’s fifth Canadian destination following Montreal (since 1950), Toronto (1976), Vancouver (2015) and Quebec City (2022). The new service connects Ottawa residents to Paris and France’s global network, spanning almost 200 destinations across all continents.
Air France will operate five flights a week between Ottawa (YOW) and Paris (CDG) on Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Flight AF327 departs YOW at 17h05, arriving at 06h15 the next day, while AF328 departs CDG at 13h10 and arrives at 15h05 the same day.
Flights are operated on Airbus A330-200s, outfitted with recently refurbished passenger cabins and flight-long Wi-Fi. There are 224 seats, including 36 in Business class, 21 in Premium Economy, and 167 in Economy. All seats are equipped with Air France’s latest-generation in-flight entertainment system, which includes 1,500 hours of movies, series and other shows that stream on large HD touch screens. Individual USB sockets are also available.
Business class passengers and Flying Blue Elite members also enjoy access to YOW’s Aspire Lounge. Rounding out the new service is Air France’s shuttle bus service between Montreal’s Pierre-Elliott Trudeau Airport and Ottawa.
“I am delighted to be inaugurating our fifth non-stop route from Canada, and the second from the province of Ontario,” said Eric Caron, General Manager for North America, Air France-KLM. “This will serve to further strengthen the historical ties between France and Canada, and also help foster new bonds culturally, economically and on the tourism front. Canada is now the second leading long-haul market for our airline. Our summer offering here is up by 38% compared to 2019.”
Active in Canada since 1950, this summer Air France will be offering 38% more seats than in summer 2019. Its summer schedule includes: up to 28 flights between Montreal and Paris-Charles de Gaulle, up to 14 weekly flights between Toronto and Paris-Charles de Gaulle; up to 7 weekly flights between Vancouver and Paris-Charles de Gaulle; 3 weekly flights between Quebec City and Paris-Charles de Gaulle; and 5 weekly flights between Ottawa and Paris-Charles de Gaulle.
On June 1, Air France began serving meals prepared by Chef Olivier Perret on all flights leaving from Canada.
Also part of the Air France-KLM Group, KLM flies out of five Canadian cities to Amsterdam-Schiphol: Toronto (up to 13 weekly flights), Calgary (7 weekly flights), Vancouver (7 weekly flights), Montreal (6 weekly flights) and Edmonton (4 weekly flights).
Eric Caron, Mark Laroche
