23 new air routes to launch across France

Sixteen new French routes “covering all the major cities in France” have been announced by the low-cost airline easyJet.

British Airways and Ryanair are also launching new flights to French destinations.

easyJet says it is taking delivery of two new aircraft to service routes to Nice and Toulouse, which will also create an extra 72 jobs in France. Here is the full list of its new routes:

Marseille - London Luton (from February 13)
Marseille - Venice (from May 12)
Nantes - London Luton (from February 15)
Paris CDG - Bilbao (from March 26)
Toulouse - Malaga (from June 9)
Toulouse - Venice (from June 10)
Toulouse - Valencia (from June 29)
Nice - Faro (from June 9)
Nice - Zurich (from June 10)
Lille - Venice (from June 10)
Lille - Naples (from June 11)
Lille - Faro (from June 9)
Bordeaux - Hamburg (from June 4)
Biarritz - Basel (from June 28)
Biarritz - London Luton (From June 27)
Bastia - Berlin (from June 26)

Fares are expected to start at €20-€30 one-way.

The firm says it plans routes and timetables 18 months to two years in advance and chooses new routes by estimating the latent demand.

“We also listen to our passengers, for example we’ve recently added Nantes, Marseille and Toulouse from Luton,” a spokesperson said. It also consults online forums and customer satisfaction surveys.

easyJet has also asked Connexion readers for suggestions for routes. Send your ideas to news@connexionfrance.com and we will forward them and publish any responses in a future edition.
“It’s relatively unusual to close a route,” the spokesperson added. However all airlines adjust to match where people want to travel.

Destinations in cities or with multiple airline routes are less likely to see services withdrawn – Toulouse is a good example, with flights from Gatwick, Luton and Bristol.”

British Airways is introducing flights from Gatwick to Limoges, and from Heathrow to Montpellier and Nantes.

Ryanair has announced Stanstead to Strasbourg and Deauville and increased frequencies to Toulouse, as well as a new service from Toulouse to Naples.

It is also starting twice-weekly flights covering the short hop from Marseille to Valence.