Air France began Paris CDG to Denver on July 2nd, the first time any SkyTeam airline has operated non-stop from Europe to the Colorado airport. Air France serves 12 US destinations. We look into the carrier's new route and opportunities going forward.

The details

Operating on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays until October 29th, the 4,880-mile route to Denver uses 276-seat Boeing 787-9s. It comes as Eurocontrol shows that France had the most flights in early July. The route has the following schedule, with all times local:

  • CDG to Denver: AF632; leaving at 13:10 and arriving at 15:20
  • Denver to CDG: AF631; leaving at 17:20 and returning to CDG at 10:40 the following day

Speaking when Air France announced Denver in mid-April, less than three months before it started, the Denver Mayor, Michael B. Hancock, said:

“These new flights directly reflect the work we have done to position Denver as a global city. With nonstop service to Paris, Air France is supporting our economic recovery with jobs and an investment in our region’s tourism and hospitality industry.”

Air France begins Denver
Denver celebrating the launch of Air France from Paris. With nearly 49,000 point-to-point passengers in 2019 together with huge connecting opportunities over Schiphol, could KLM to Amsterdam happen too? Amsterdam was Denver's largest unserved market in 2019. Photo: Denver International Airport.

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A large, readymade market – in normal times

The Denver to Paris point-to-point market is a large one. In 2019, it had approximately 96,000 round-trip passengers, booking data obtained from OAG Traffic Analyzer shows. Some 53,000 people flew non-stop with Norwegian, while a further 43,000 flew via a hub. Icelandair over Keflavik had the most indirect passengers.

Air France's first flight to Denver
Air France's first flight to Denver used B787-9 registered F-HRBB, one of the 10 789s it now has. 'Bravo Bravo was delivered in April 2017 and has 225 economy seats, 21 premium economy, and 30 in business. Image: RadarBox.com.

Norwegian used to operate the route

The Air France launch of Denver comes in the wake of Norwegian ending it. The long-haul low-cost carrier launched the service in April 2018 and it operated summer-seasonally. Colorado is, after all, an outstanding outdoors destination.

Initially operating twice-weekly, it had risen to three-weekly by 344-seat B787-9s by the summer of 2019. Norwegian has since ended all long-haul services to instead focus on its core short-haul market.

Norwegian B787-9
Norwegian flew up to three-weekly between CDG and Denver. Photo: Vincenzo Pace. | Simple Flying.

Air France to the US this summer

Despite ongoing restrictions, Air France's US network comprises 12 destinations this summer, based on its schedule submission to OAG. The B777-300ER is the most-used aircraft, followed by the A350-900, B787-9, and B777-200ER. The A340-300 was used previously, especially to SkyTeam hub Detroit.

While Denver has been added, Dallas isn't operating and neither is Seattle, a route Air France relaunched in 2018. However, fellow SkyTeam airline Delta will operate Seattle-CDG from mid-October. All Air France routes to the US are now from its CDG hub, with New York JFK naturally the largest:

  1. JFK: 174,676 round-trip seats
  2. Los Angeles: 114,721
  3. Atlanta: 106,664
  4. Washington: 58,888
  5. Miami: 58,251
  6. Chicago: 50,827
  7. San Francisco: 50,320
  8. Boston: 49,539
  9. Houston: 48,992
  10. Detroit: 43,230
  11. Minneapolis: 17,847
  12. Denver: 14,508
Air France begins Denver
This new Denver route replaces Norwegian, which didn't have Air France's network over CDG. Photo: Denver International Airport.

Largest unserved markets from Paris to the US

All of which begs the question: where else could be served in the US? From Paris as a whole, the largest point-to-point markets are as follows, which doesn't consider transfer traffic or fares.

  • Las Vegas
  • Phoenix
  • San Diego
  • Portland
  • Austin

Las Vegas is the biggest, but it has seen Air France, Delta, Level, and XL Airways France all operate it in the past decade. Air France served it from 2018 until the pandemic struck. Will Sin City return?

What do you think about Air France's new Denver route and possibilities for the future? Let us know in the comments.