Air France has announced that it will commence its popular, daily seasonal service from Cork to Paris Charles de Gaulle early next year due to the high demand.
Previously operating the service from the end of March through October, the French flag-carrier will commence operating the service early on March 3, 2025.
Air France has operated to and from Cork Airport since 2018, providing a direct, daily service to Paris Charles de Gaulle airport.
The service provides excellent access to the French capital along with onward connectivity to 169 onward destinations across the wider Air France worldwide network. When combined with the destinations network of Transavia and KLM, Air France passengers from Cork can reach about 320 worldwide destinations across the globe.
The earlier commencement of this key service follows positive engagement between Cork Airport and Air France. Tourism Ireland ranks France as the fourth-largest source market for inbound tourists to the island of Ireland. The greater Paris metropolitan area is home to an estimated 12 million people and the news will come as a welcome boost to the tourism industry across the South of Ireland.
In 2023, over 387,000 French holidaymakers visited Ireland, spending an average of 9.7 nights in the country.
Announcing the earlier start date of Air France 2025 operations at Cork Airport, Jerome Salemi, General Manager of Air France-KLM (UK & Ireland),said: “After the success of the route last year, we wanted to make the extra effort to bring it back even earlier to give the Cork local community and businesses even more options to reach Paris and the rest of the world via our hub in Charles de Gaulle. We are pleased to have worked with Cork Airport on making this possible and hope to have more opportunities such as this is the future.”
Tara Finn, Head of Aviation Business Development and Communications at Cork Airport welcomed the announcement by Air France saying: “Next spring, Air France will commence its daily service to Paris Charles de Gaulle at the beginning of March – four weeks earlier than planned. I’d like to thank Air France for this vote of confidence in Cork Airport and I’m confident that the direct services to Paris, along with the vast range of onward connections, will ensure the route performs well next summer.”