UK regional carrier Eastern Airways has announced flights to Paris Orly from Cardiff, East Midlands, and Southampton. All three airports will again be connected to the French capital. Of the three, only East Midlands hasn't had Orly flights before, at least not in the past 20 years.

Eastern Airways to Paris Orly

East Midlands and Southampton start on April 14th and Cardiff on April 21st, with very little lead-in time. Using a 70-seat ATR-72 based at East Midlands, all three routes will primarily be point-to-point but will also codeshare with Air France in the coming weeks. However, there is relatively little opportunity over Orly versus Air France's main hub of Paris CDG.

Daily except Saturday, the operating ATR-72 will leave East Midlands at 06:00 and return at 20:00, routing East Midlands-Orly-Southampton-Orly-Cardiff-Orly-East Midlands, as shown below. When writing, it is unclear where the crew will overnight or change as they obviously won't operate the entire day:

  • East Midlands-Orly: T3249, 06:00-08:45 (daily except Sat); 06:15-09:00 (Sat)
  • Orly-Southampton: T3242, 09:30-09:55 (daily except Sat); 09:45-10:10 (Sat)
  • Southampton-Orly: T3243, 10:35-12:55 (daily except Sat); 10:50-13:10 (Sat)
  • Orly-Cardiff: T3246, 13:35-14:20 (daily except Sat); 13:50-14:30 (Sat)
  • Cardiff-Orly: T3247, 15:05-17:50 (daily except Sat); 15:20-18:05 (Sat)
  • Orly-East Midlands: T3248, 19:15-20:00 (daily except Sat); 19:30-20:15 (Sat)

Paris back to all three airports

Eastern Airways' announcement means that Paris flights return to Cardiff, East Midlands, and Southampton. The Welsh capital last had Orly flights in 2022 (Vueling), while CDG was linked for years until 2020 (Flybe). The UK CAA shows that Vueling carried 19,570 roundtrip passengers last year.

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While East Midlands hasn't had Orly flights before, CDG was last served in 2017 (Jet2, previously served in 2014). However, it has had flights by various operators over the years, including bmi regional (2005-2006), bmibaby (for years until 2012; see the following photo), and Flybe (2012-2014). Hardly surprisingly, the exit of one carrier typically meant the arrival of another.

Southampton has had much Paris Orly and CDG service over the years, including by Air France's regional unit and Flybe, among others. Orly was last served in 2017 and CDG in 2020 (both by Flybe). Curiously, they coexisted at times. Analysis of schedules in the past 20 years using OAG data shows that Southampton-Paris had up to six daily flights, although double daily more recently.

25 airports have Paris/Amsterdam flights

Some 25 UK airports have flights this summer to at least one of Orly, CDG, and Amsterdam, as shown below. (I've excluded Beauvais as I am looking at major airports.) Five airports have flights to all three (in green), including Manchester. easyJet begins Manchester-Orly on March 27th, supplementing CDG (easyJet, Air France) and Amsterdam (easyJet, KLM).

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Image: GCMap.

Some 10 airports have no Paris flights but are linked to Amsterdam (red). They include Southend, which easyJet resumes on May 24th. One airport – East Midlands – has flights to Paris but not Amsterdam (pink). It was last served by the second iteration of Flybe.

Will East Midlands-Amsterdam be served again? Will Exeter, which previously had Amsterdam/Paris flights until 2020, see them in the future? Will Stansted and Aberdeen regain Paris (regular flights until 2020)? Let us know your thoughts by commenting.