The first flight operated by Air France as part of its triweekly service to and from Paris Charles de Gaulle airport touched down at Malta International Airport (MIA) on Monday night.

The route, offering flights every Monday, Friday, and Sunday, is expected to further facilitate air travel between Malta and the French capital, as France has consistently featured among the airport’s most popular markets for more than a decade.

In 2019, passengers from the country were fourth among MIA’s top drivers of traffic, with a 6.2 per cent market share.

Celebrating the launch of the route, Alex Cardona, Head of Traffic Development at MIA commented: “Air France’s addition of Malta to its route network as one of its six new European destinations for the summer season is a reassuring vote of confidence in our islands, especially given the excellent reputation the flag carrier enjoys within the industry.

“France’s performance since the reopening of tourism has been extremely positive, and we are confident that Air France’s launch of operations will continue to support the recovery of this very important market”.

Aside from its function as a point-to-point connection between the locations, the route will plug Malta into Air France's network of around 200 destinations, thus serving as a bridge to long-haul destinations, including overseas departments such as For-de-France on the Caribbean island of Martinique, Cayenne in South America, and Papeete in French Polynesia.

Air France is the third flag carrier to join Malta International Airport’s airline portfolio for the summer months, with LOT Polish and Cyprus Airways having launched operations in June.

We are extremely happy to inaugurate this new connection between Malta and Paris thanks to which passengers departing from an important catchment area will be able to connect to the global network of Air France and tourists all over the world will reach this beautiful destination more easily”, exclaimed Stefan Vanovermeir, Director-General Air France-KLM East Mediterranean.