It is third time lucky for Air France, with Chennai all set to become the airline’s fourth Indian gateway. The French flag carrier will begin direct operations, once a week, from June 26, Saturday, on the Paris Charles De Gaulle-Chennai-Paris sector. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent travel restrictions, the service, first scheduled for June 2020, was put off to October 26, and later rescheduled for this year.
An airline spokesperson said the 9 hour 50 minute flight (AF108) will be operated with a 276-seater three-class configured Boeing 787-9, landing in Chennai at 11.45 p.m. For the inaugural flight, the departure from Meenambakkam airport (AF107) will be on June 28, Monday, at 1.20 a.m. Thereafter, from July, the inbound flight will be every Thursday (from July 1) and the outbound flight every Saturday (from July 3).
The official said the airline continues to fly to Bengaluru, Mumbai and New Delhi in compliance with the bilateral air bubble agreement. Operations to Chennai will be a part of this existing agreement.
The once-a-week Air India Boeing 787 air bubble service (AI 180/179) on the same sector, that began from April 2, has been stopped following the second wave of the pandemic and subsequent travel regulations.
