airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers or freight (cargo). Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines ...

Airbus A350 The Airbus A350 is a flight length, long-range, wide-body twin-engine airliner developed and produced by Airbus. The initial A350 design proposed in 2004, in response to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, would have been a development of the Airbu ...

Vendée Vendée () is a department in the Pays de la Loire region in Western France, on the Atlantic coast. In 2019, it had a population of 685,442.Air Caraïbes, with prior executive experience at airlines including AOM and L'Avion) and Jean-Paul Dubreuil (chairman of Groupe Dubreuil, the holding and parent company of Air Caraïbes) discussed ways to expand Groupe Dubreuil's aviation businesses. A possibility included the buyout of

Corsair International Corsair International, legally ''Corsair S.A.'', previously Corsairfly and Corse Air International, is a French airline headquartered in Rungis and based at Orly Airport. It is a subsidiary of German investor Intro Aviation (53%) and TUI Group ( ...

from TUI Group; however when the buyout fell through in March 2015, a decision was made to instead form an entirely new French airline. In June 2015, Groupe Dubreuil announced the launch of a project under the codename "Sunline", involving the creation of a new low-cost, long-haul airline to be based in France. The airline was publicly unveiled in March 2016, under the name "French Blue". Plans for the airline's first two years were to launch flights from

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

to

Punta Cana Punta Cana is a resort town in the easternmost region of the Dominican Republic. It was politically incorporated as the "Verón–Punta Cana township" in 2006, and it is subject to the municipality of Higüey (La Altagracia Province). According ...

in September 2016, flights to the islands of

Réunion Réunion (; ; ; known as before 1848) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France. Part of the Mascarene Islands, it is located approximately east of the isl ...

and

Mauritius Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, about off the southeastern coast of East Africa, east of Madagascar. It includes the main island (also called Mauritius), as well as Rodrigues, Ag ...

in summer 2017, and to operate a fleet of two

Airbus A330-300 The Airbus A330 is a wide-body airliner developed and produced by Airbus. Airbus began developing larger A300 derivatives in the mid–1970s, giving rise to the A330 twinjet as well as the Airbus A340 quadjet, and launched both designs along ...

and two

Airbus A350-900 The Airbus A350 is a flight length, long-range, wide-body twin-engine airliner developed and produced by Airbus. The initial A350 design proposed in 2004, in response to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, would have been a development of the Airbu ...

s by March 2018. The airline also planned to hire 400 employees within two years. After receiving its first

Airbus A330-300 The Airbus A330 is a wide-body airliner developed and produced by Airbus. Airbus began developing larger A300 derivatives in the mid–1970s, giving rise to the A330 twinjet as well as the Airbus A340 quadjet, and launched both designs along ...

, the airline operated some long-haul flights on behalf of Air Caraïbes from 1 July 2016, before the airline's first flight from Paris Orly to

Punta Cana International Airport Punta Cana Airport is a privately owned commercial airport in Punta Cana, eastern Dominican Republic. The airport was built with open-air terminals and roofs covered in palm fronds. Grupo Puntacana built the airport, which was designed by archi ...

on 10 September 2016. In October 2016, the airline announced its next destination from Paris Orly with flights to Roland Garros Airport on Réunion island, beginning on 16 June 2017. In August 2017, the airline received its first

Airbus A350-900 The Airbus A350 is a flight length, long-range, wide-body twin-engine airliner developed and produced by Airbus. The initial A350 design proposed in 2004, in response to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, would have been a development of the Airbu ...

, and was also considering

Mauritius Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, about off the southeastern coast of East Africa, east of Madagascar. It includes the main island (also called Mauritius), as well as Rodrigues, Ag ...

and

Seychelles Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (; Seychellois Creole: ), is an island country and archipelagic state consisting of 155 islands (as per the Constitution) in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, Victoria, ...

as new destinations for 2018. By November 2017 however, the airline ultimately chose

Papeete Papeete (Tahitian language, Tahitian: ''Papeʻetē'', pronounced ; old name: ''Vaiʻetē''Personal communication with Michael Koch in ) is the capital city of French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of the France, French Republic in the Pacific ...

and

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

as its next destinations, with plans to begin serving them on 11 May 2018.

Rebranding and expansion (2017–2020)

In November 2017, while the airline as "French Blue" was applying with the

United States Department of Transportation The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT or DOT) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is headed by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the president of the United States a ...

for a foreign air carrier permit to begin service to the country, U.S.-based

JetBlue JetBlue Airways Corporation, stylized as jetBlue, is an American major airline headquartered in Long Island City, in Queens, New York City. Primarily a point-to-point carrier, JetBlue's network features six focus cities including its main hub ...

raised objections to another airline serving the country bearing the word "Blue" in its name. In response, the airline was temporarily renamed to simply "French", before the airline announced on 30 January 2018 that it was rebranding as "French Bee". In February 2018, after receiving regulatory approval to begin operations to the U.S., the airline formally announced the opening of reservations for flights between Paris Orly and Faa'a International Airport (Papeete) in French Polynesia, with flights stopping at

San Francisco International Airport San Francisco International Airport is the primary international airport for the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. Owned and operated by the City and County of San Francisco, the airport has a San Francisco mailing ...

each way, and launching on 11 May 2018 as previously planned. The services included international traffic rights for passengers to travel solely to or from San Francisco in addition to transiting between Paris and Papeete. In June 2018, parent company Groupe Dubreuil announced the addition of a third

Airbus A350-900 The Airbus A350 is a flight length, long-range, wide-body twin-engine airliner developed and produced by Airbus. The initial A350 design proposed in 2004, in response to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, would have been a development of the Airbu ...

to French Bee's fleet, to be delivered in June 2019, and that the airline's

Airbus A330-300 The Airbus A330 is a wide-body airliner developed and produced by Airbus. Airbus began developing larger A300 derivatives in the mid–1970s, giving rise to the A330 twinjet as well as the Airbus A340 quadjet, and launched both designs along ...

would be reconfigured and transferred to Air Caraïbes upon the A350's delivery. Following this, the airline's fleet consisted entirely of Airbus A350 aircraft. Also during June 2019, Groupe Dubreuil allocated a fourth A350-900 to the airline for delivery during 2020, and with this expansion to its fleet, the airline in September 2019 announced its second destination in the US with flights to

Newark Liberty International Airport Newark Liberty International Airport is a major international airport serving the New York metropolitan area. The airport straddles the boundary between the cities of Newark, New Jersey, Newark in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County and E ...

, to begin on 10 June 2020. Groupe Dubreuil also announced that it had allocated deliveries for the larger A350-1000 variant to the airline, initially with one each in 2021 and 2022, but was later reported to have been adjusted for both A350-1000s to be delivered during 2021. In January 2020, French Bee was granted traffic rights to operate services between Paris Orly and

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

, Brazil, following the redistribution of traffic rights previously held by

Aigle Azur Aigle Azur was a French airline based and headquartered at Paris Orly Airport. The airline operated scheduled flights from France to 21 destinations across Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, with a fleet of Airbus A320 family and A330 aircr ...

and

XL Airways France XL Airways France was a French airline with its head offices on the grounds of Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport. It operated scheduled flights mainly to long-haul destinations in Africa, the Middle East, the United States and the Caribbean as we ...

, which had both gone defunct during September 2019. The airline had not decided which São Paulo airport it would serve between either

Guarulhos Guarulhos () is a Brazilian Municipalities of Brazil, municipality. It is the second most populous city in the Brazilian States of Brazil, state of São Paulo (state), São Paulo, the List of largest cities in Brazil, 13th most populous city in ...

or Viracopos International Airport, though the airline proposed a June 2021 start date in its application for the traffic rights, with the possibility of an expedited start date during December 2020 by chartering an aircraft from Air Caraïbes. In February 2020, the airline announced an interlining agreement with

Alaska Airlines Alaska Airlines is a major American airline headquartered in SeaTac, Washington, within the Seattle metropolitan area. It is the fifth-largest airline in North America when measured by scheduled passengers carried, as of 2024. Alaska, togethe ...

through Alaska's hub in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, and in anticipation of French Bee's planned services to Newark, a destination also served by Alaska.

COVID-19 pandemic (2020–2023)

During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

and its impact on aviation, which included the United States travel ban beginning in March 2020, French Bee temporarily suspended its operations to the U.S., intending to operate its flights to Faa'a International Airport by rerouting its intermediate stop from

San Francisco International Airport San Francisco International Airport is the primary international airport for the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. Owned and operated by the City and County of San Francisco, the airport has a San Francisco mailing ...

to

Pointe-à-Pitre International Airport Guadeloupe Maryse Condé Airport, otherwise known as Pointe-à-Pitre International Airport or ( is an international airport serving Pointe-à-Pitre on the island of Grande-Terre in Guadeloupe, France. The airport is located in Abymes, north- ...

, allowing for the route's stops between France and French Polynesia to occur within French domestic territories. Shortly after, the airline instead suspended its commercial flights to French Polynesia after 15 March 2020, with the initial intention of resuming them on 10 April 2020. As overseas borders between the airline's Paris Orly base and its destinations began to close, the remainder of the airline's commercial operations (which included its flights to Réunion) were suspended starting from 28 March 2020, with the suspensions expected to last for at least two months. Four days later on 1 April 2020,

Orly Airport Paris Orly Airport (, ) is one of two international airports serving Paris, France, the other one being Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG). It is located partially in Orly and partially in Villeneuve-le-Roi, south of Paris. It serves as a sec ...

closed to commercial passenger traffic. While French Bee's commercial passenger operations were suspended, the airline still operated some charter and cargo-only flights, and while doing so claimed the record for the world's longest domestic flight, though the flight did not carry any passengers as Paris Orly remained closed to passenger traffic. After making a stopover in Pointe-à-Pitre on a flight from Paris Orly to Papeete carrying medical supplies to French Polynesia, the

Airbus A350-900 The Airbus A350 is a flight length, long-range, wide-body twin-engine airliner developed and produced by Airbus. The initial A350 design proposed in 2004, in response to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, would have been a development of the Airbu ...

operating the flight returned from Papeete to Paris Orly as a nonstop flight on 15 May 2020, traveling a

great-circle distance The great-circle distance, orthodromic distance, or spherical distance is the distance between two points on a sphere, measured along the great-circle arc between them. This arc is the shortest path between the two points on the surface of the ...

of , with the airline claiming it traveled a ground distance of . The distance of the flight surpassed the record of

Air Tahiti Nui Air Tahiti Nui is the flag carrier of the Overseas France, French overseas collectivity of French Polynesia, with its head office and daily operations office in Faʻaʻā, Tahiti. It operates long-haul flights from its home base at Faa'a Intern ...

, which initially took the record for its flight from Papeete to Paris Charles de Gaulle earlier that March, with Air Tahiti Nui's

Boeing 787-9 The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is an American Wide-body aircraft, wide-body airliner developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After dropping its unconventional Boeing Sonic Cruiser, Sonic Cruiser project, Boeing announced the ...

traveling a great-circle distance of . As

Orly Airport Paris Orly Airport (, ) is one of two international airports serving Paris, France, the other one being Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG). It is located partially in Orly and partially in Villeneuve-le-Roi, south of Paris. It serves as a sec ...

was still closed to commercial passenger traffic since 1 April 2020, French Bee's Paris-based operations were temporarily relocated to

Charles de Gaulle Airport Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport , also known as Roissy Airport, is the primary international airport serving Paris, the capital city of France. The airport opened in 1974 and is located in Roissy-en-France, northeast of Paris. It is named for ...

when the airline's passenger flights to Réunion resumed on 12 June 2020. Following Paris Orly's reopening to commercial passenger traffic on 26 June 2020, the airline's operations returned to Paris Orly on 13 July 2020, with the resumption of its commercial flights to French Polynesia following on 15 July 2020. As international borders between Europe and the United States remained closed, the airline's planned flights to

Newark Liberty International Airport Newark Liberty International Airport is a major international airport serving the New York metropolitan area. The airport straddles the boundary between the cities of Newark, New Jersey, Newark in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County and E ...

that were to begin in June 2020 were repeatedly postponed. Additionally, French Bee continued operating its flights to French Polynesia with the intermediate stop occurring in

Pointe-à-Pitre Pointe-à-Pitre (; , , or simply , ) is the second most populous commune of Guadeloupe (after Les Abymes). Guadeloupe is an overseas region and Overseas department, department of France located in the Lesser Antilles, of which it is a ''Subprefectu ...

or a Canadian airport instead of in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, though the airline did not pursue international traffic rights to allow passengers to travel solely to or from Canada. After over a year of suspensions, the airline's flights between Paris Orly and Newark launched on 14 July 2021, as restrictions on travel between France and the United States were gradually lifted, with the resumption of the airline's services to San Francisco between Paris and Papeete following on 10 November 2021. Soon after resuming both of its routes to the United States, the airline on 16 November 2021 announced a new service between Paris Orly and

Los Angeles International Airport Los Angeles International Airport is the primary international airport serving Los Angeles and its Greater Los Angeles, surrounding metropolitan area, in the U.S. state of California. LAX is located in the Westchester, Los Angeles, Westcheste ...

to begin on 9 April 2022 (later postponed to 30 April 2022), and during the following month, the airline received its first Airbus A350-1000 on 17 December 2021. Following the launch of its Los Angeles service, the airline on 3 May 2022 announced a new service between Paris Orly and

Miami International Airport Miami International Airport , also known as MIA and historically as Wilcox Field, is the primary international airport serving Miami and its Miami metropolitan area, surrounding metropolitan area, in the U.S. state of Florida. It hosts over 1, ...

to begin on 15 December 2022, in anticipation of the delivery of its second Airbus A350-1000.

Post-pandemic (2023–present)

French Bee joined the Dohop platform for virtual interlining in 2023, before launching its own integrated platform on 19 June 2024, which added

Avianca Avianca S.A. (acronym in Spanish for ''Aerovias de Colombia S.A.'', "Airways of Colombia", and stylized as avianca since October 2023) is the largest airline in Colombia. It has been the flag carrier of Colombia since December 5, 1919, when it ...

,

Pegasus Airlines Pegasus Airlines () (), sometimes stylized as Flypgs, is a Turkish low-cost airline headquartered in the Kurtköy area of Pendik, Turkey, with bases at several Turkish airports. History Foundation and early years On 1 December 1989, two b ...

,

Spirit Airlines Spirit Airlines, Inc. is an American ultra-low cost airline headquartered in Dania Beach, Florida, in the Miami metropolitan area. Spirit operates scheduled flights throughout the United States, the Caribbean, and Latin America. Spirit was the ...

, and

Volotea Volotea () is a Spanish low-cost airline registered in Castrillón and headquartered in Barcelona. History Foundation and early years Volotea was established by Alaeo S.L. from Barcelona, a company created by former Vueling founders, Carlo ...

as virtual interlining partners. In July 2024, the airline announced plans to begin its first scheduled services to Canada, with flights between Paris Orly and

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

initially announced to launch in May 2025, before later announcing 30 April 2025 as the date of inauguration.

Corporate affairs

French Bee is a

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company (law), company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidia ...

of Groupe Dubreuil, which is also the parent company of Air Caraïbes, and is headquartered in Bellevigny, France. French Bee's first

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

and

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

was Marc Rochet. In August 2023, he was succeeded by Christine Ourmières-Widener who was appointed to the position.

Destinations

French Bee operates, or has previously operated scheduled flights to the following destinations :

Interline agreements

French Bee has

interlining Interlining, also known as interline ticketing and interline booking, is a voluntary commercial agreement between individual airlines to handle passengers traveling on itineraries that require multiple flights on multiple airlines. Such agreemen ...

agreements with the following airlines: *

Air Austral Air Austral is a French airline that is also the flag carrier of the Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of Réunion. The airline is based at Roland Garros Airport. It operates scheduled services from Réu ...

*

Air Tahiti Air Tahiti is a French airline company which operates in French Polynesia. Its main hub is Faa'a International Airport. It is the largest private employer in French Polynesia. Company history Early seaplane operations The company was foun ...

*

Alaska Airlines Alaska Airlines is a major American airline headquartered in SeaTac, Washington, within the Seattle metropolitan area. It is the fifth-largest airline in North America when measured by scheduled passengers carried, as of 2024. Alaska, togethe ...

*

Avianca Avianca S.A. (acronym in Spanish for ''Aerovias de Colombia S.A.'', "Airways of Colombia", and stylized as avianca since October 2023) is the largest airline in Colombia. It has been the flag carrier of Colombia since December 5, 1919, when it ...

*

Pegasus Airlines Pegasus Airlines () (), sometimes stylized as Flypgs, is a Turkish low-cost airline headquartered in the Kurtköy area of Pendik, Turkey, with bases at several Turkish airports. History Foundation and early years On 1 December 1989, two b ...

*

Spirit Airlines Spirit Airlines, Inc. is an American ultra-low cost airline headquartered in Dania Beach, Florida, in the Miami metropolitan area. Spirit operates scheduled flights throughout the United States, the Caribbean, and Latin America. Spirit was the ...

*

Volotea Volotea () is a Spanish low-cost airline registered in Castrillón and headquartered in Barcelona. History Foundation and early years Volotea was established by Alaeo S.L. from Barcelona, a company created by former Vueling founders, Carlo ...

Codeshare agreements

French Bee has

codeshare agreement A codeshare agreement, also known simply as codeshare, is a business arrangement, common in the aviation industry, in which two or more airlines publish and market the same flight under their own airline designator and flight number (the "airli ...

s with sister airline Air Caraïbes as well as the

SNCF The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (, , SNCF ) is France's national State-owned enterprise, state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the Rail transport in France, country's national rail traffic along with th ...

, the French national railway operator.

Fleet

Current fleet

F-HREV_-_Airbus_A350-900_-_French_Bee_-_33140446768

, the French Bee fleet consists of the following aircraft:

Historical fleet

French Bee previously operated the following aircraft:

Cabins and services

Service

French Bee offers two classes of service, consisting of Premium and Economy class. As a

low-cost airline A low-cost carrier (LCC) or low-cost airline, also called a budget, or discount carrier or airline, is an airline that is operated with an emphasis on minimizing operating costs. It sacrifices certain traditional airline luxuries for cheaper fa ...

, French Bee in most cases charges additional fees for services and amenities offered, such as for seat selection, additional baggage allowances, through buy on board services for catering and comfort kits, as well as for airport services including lounge access and expedited security queues. These are provided via two main booking tiers corresponding to the two classes of service, consisting of "Bee" (previously Basic and Smart) for the Economy cabin and "Premium" for its eponymous cabin. The Bee and Premium tiers each include sub-tiers ranging from "Light" to "Flex", which progressively include more and more services and amenities. The airline also provides catalogues in French and English for in-flight catering and

duty-free shop A duty-free shop or store is a retail outlet whose goods are exempt from the payment of certain local or national taxes and duties, on the requirement that the goods will be sold to travelers who will take them out of the country, who will ...

ping.

In-flight entertainment

Seats in both the Premium and Economy cabins of French Bee's aircraft are equipped with an

in-flight entertainment In-flight entertainment (IFE) refers to entertainment and other value-added services available to aircraft passengers during a flight. Frequently managed by content service providers, the types of in-flight entertainment and their content vary s ...

touchscreen system by Zodiac Aerospace. The system includes a selection of audio and

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos, television shows and films Digital distribution, digitally on request. These multimedia are accessed without a traditional video playback device and a typica ...

(AVOD) consisting of movies, recorded television shows, podcasts, music, and video games. Content on the system is freely available to all passengers, regardless of cabin of service, and each screen is equipped with a USB power outlet. The airline also offers in-flight

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for Wireless LAN, local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by ...

access at different service levels for an additional fee.

Seating

French Bee's Premium cabin consists of seats configured in a 2-3-2 layout on Airbus A350-900 and 2-4-2 layout on Airbus A350-1000. The seats offer of pitch and measure wide. Each seat is equipped with an adjustable leg, foot, and head rest as well as a power outlet. The airline's Economy cabin consists of seats configured mostly in a 3-4-3 layout, with some rows toward the rear of the aircraft configured in a 3-3-3 layout. The seats offer of pitch and measure wide, while two power outlets are included with each set of three or four seats.

Criticism

Air Caraïbes employee relations

During the airline's initial startup as French Blue in 2016, employee unions of sister airline Air Caraïbes (a full service airline) expressed concerns that French Blue's nature as a

low-cost airline A low-cost carrier (LCC) or low-cost airline, also called a budget, or discount carrier or airline, is an airline that is operated with an emphasis on minimizing operating costs. It sacrifices certain traditional airline luxuries for cheaper fa ...

would be retroactively used to transfer the transatlantic operations of and impede Air Caraïbes' future growth. The unions cited two

Airbus A350-900 The Airbus A350 is a flight length, long-range, wide-body twin-engine airliner developed and produced by Airbus. The initial A350 design proposed in 2004, in response to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, would have been a development of the Airbu ...

s due in 2017, previously allocated by Groupe Dubreuil to Air Caraïbes that were instead allocated to French Blue, and demanded that the original plans of delivering the A350s to Air Caraïbes be maintained, or that for every aircraft added to the French Blue fleet, an aircraft would also be added to the Air Caraïbes fleet for the latter's fleet size to remain larger. The unions also stressed that French Blue's operations should be kept separate from those of Air Caraïbes not only in the French Caribbean, but also for the future plans to serve Réunion island, which Groupe Dubreuil had previously announced as part of French Blue's plans for the summer of 2017. Marc Rochet acknowledged Air Caraïbes' successful financial results as a full-service airline and reassured that growth and the use of resources for both Air Caraïbes and French Blue would be possible, noting that French Blue's operations would not interfere with the French Caribbean operations of Air Caraïbes in limiting French Blue's Caribbean presence to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. French Blue's sole

Airbus A330-300 The Airbus A330 is a wide-body airliner developed and produced by Airbus. Airbus began developing larger A300 derivatives in the mid–1970s, giving rise to the A330 twinjet as well as the Airbus A340 quadjet, and launched both designs along ...

was ultimately chartered by Air Caraïbes for some of its flights to the Caribbean even through French Blue's official launch to Punta Cana in September 2016, though French Blue also went ahead with its plans to launch its own flights to Réunion island in June 2017. In subsequent years, both the A330 as well as the Punta Cana route were transferred back to Air Caraïbes, while Air Caraïbes received its share of A350 deliveries and renewed part of its Airbus widebody fleet. In addition, the overall fleet size of Air Caraïbes remained higher than that of its sister airline.

Unsustainable tourism growth in French Polynesia

French Blue's intention in 2017 to launch flights from Paris Orly to Papeete via San Francisco in May 2018 was opposed by the Tahoera'a Huiraatira party in the French Polynesian government, although the government also approved the airline's application to start service.

Gaston Flosse Gaston Flosse (born 24 June 1931) is a French Polynesian politician who has been President of French Polynesia on five separate occasions. He is currently a member of the Senate of France and has been a French junior minister under Jacques Chirac ...

, the party's leader, argued that the high-cost environment of French Polynesia would be unsuitable for the influx of budget travelers that French Blue would transport to the islands, and that effects from the low-cost airline's new services would be detrimental to the local population. A drop in the market shares of

Air France Air France (; legally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France, and is headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. The airline is a subsidiary of the Air France-KLM Group and is one of the founding members ...

and

Air Tahiti Nui Air Tahiti Nui is the flag carrier of the Overseas France, French overseas collectivity of French Polynesia, with its head office and daily operations office in Faʻaʻā, Tahiti. It operates long-haul flights from its home base at Faa'a Intern ...

, which were already operating services between France and French Polynesia via the United States, was also expected due to the added competition and reduced fares that the airline would introduce to the route. Air Tahiti Nui in particular expressed skepticism toward the long-term sustainability of French Blue's low-cost and long-haul business model, claiming that the concept had not yet proven its success. The airline's initial effects on traffic to French Polynesia were reflected in passenger traffic statistics for June 2018, where after the airline (by then having rebranded as French Bee) launched its Papeete services during the previous month, French Bee attained 10% of the market share for all traffic through Faa'a International Airport, while Air France's share fell by 11.1% and Air Tahiti Nui's fell by 3.6% compared to June 2017. By the end of 2018, French Bee claimed to have attained 35% of the total market share between Paris and Papeete, compared to Air Tahiti Nui's 36% and Air France's 29%, and a 16% market share between the United States and Papeete, compared to Air Tahiti Nui's 52% and Air France's 12%. Observers additionally felt that the infrastructure for tourism on the islands, including hotel vacancy or capacity on domestic inter-island services, would be unable to support the increase in visitors. While inbound tourism increased by 10.1% in June 2018 compared to June 2017 (particularly from Europe and the United States as a result of French Bee's new services), the demand for hotel capacity dropped by 2.5% compared to June 2017, with independent renters being projected to have absorbed or hosted additional capacity. In contrast to the increased tourist volume from Europe and the United States, tourism from Japan, Australia, and New Zealand dropped during the same period. After French Bee,

United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. is a Major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States headquartered in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois that operates an extensive domestic and international route network across the United States and six ...

in December 2017 also announced the launch of its own services to Papeete from San Francisco for October 2018; and as United was also serving Paris Charles de Gaulle from San Francisco, it further increased competition and contributed additional capacity from the United States and Europe to the islands. While United's total market share between Paris and Papeete was not specified, French Bee claimed that United attained 20% of the total market share between the U.S. and Papeete by the end of 2018, although these figures did not include

Hawaiian Airlines Hawaiian Airlines, Inc. ( ) is a commercial U.S. airline headquartered in Honolulu, and a subsidiary of the Alaska Air Group. It is the largest operator of commercial flights to and from the island state of Hawaiʻi, and the tenth largest ...

, a U.S.-based carrier that also operated Papeete services during the same period.

References

External links

* {{Airlines of France Airlines of France French brands Airlines established in 2016 French companies established in 2016 Low-cost carriers

Rebranding and expansion (2017–2020)

COVID-19 pandemic (2020–2023)

Post-pandemic (2023–present)

Corporate affairs

Destinations

Interline agreements

Codeshare agreements

Fleet

Current fleet

Historical fleet

Cabins and services

Service

In-flight entertainment

Seating

Criticism

Air Caraïbes employee relations

Unsustainable tourism growth in French Polynesia

See also

References

External links