Air France To Cut Flights To Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport

Air France will not be operating to Minneapolis-St Paul International Airport (MSP) this summer. The airline’s summer seasonal route from its hub at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) was due to resume in May 2023, but has this week been pulled from its schedule.

The airline has flown to the Midwestern airport for almost a decade, but the capacity between the two cities will now be picked up by Air France’s SkyTeam partner, Delta Air Lines. The US carrier has added a second non-stop flight to Paris Charles de Gaulle, which will run three times per week throughout the summer.

The schedule change has been confirmed by Delta Air Lines. According to a spokesperson for Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, “Air France is planning to return to MSP in 2024.”

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The flight schedule

From May 1st, 2023, Delta Air Lines will increase the frequency of its services between Minneapolis-St. Paul and Paris Charles de Gaulle from daily to ten weekly. The flight schedule will look like this:

• Flight DL232 – departs MSP at 16:50, and arrives in CDG at 07:55 (+1 day)
• Flight DL233 – departs CDG at 10:15, and arrives in MSP at 12:25
• Flight DL138 – departs MSP at 22:00, and arrives in CDG at 13:25 (+1 day)
• Flight DL139 – departs CDG at 15:40, and arrives in MSP at 17:45

Flight DL232/233 is Delta Air Lines’ existing daily, year-round service. Flight DL138/139 will operate three times per week throughout the summer, on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Sundays (eastbound), and on Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Mondays (westbound). Both services are flown with the Airbus A330-300 aircraft.

Each of Delta Air Lines’ 31 Airbus A330-300s seats a total of 282 passengers in a four-class configuration – 34 in business class (Delta One), 21 in premium economy (Premium Select), 24 in economy plus (Delta Comfort+), and 203 in economy class (Main Cabin).

Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying

Minneapolis-St Paul’s changing long-haul network

Air France is the second European carrier to abandon Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport in recent years – at the start of the pandemic, Aer Lingus pulled its flights to Dublin (DUB), and the service is one of the airline’s few Transatlantic services that has not yet been restored. All eyes have since been on Delta Air Lines to pick up the route, but this has not yet happened. Dutch flag carrier KLM will continue to operate four flights per week from Amsterdam (AMS).

From March 25th, 2023, Delta Air Lines will resume its year-round service to Tokyo Haneda (HND), joining Seoul Incheon (ICN) as the airline’s non-stop destinations in Asia. Both routes will be flown with the Airbus A330neo. Delta Air Lines’ other intercontinental route from Minneapolis-St. Paul is its daily service to London Heathrow (LHR), operated by the Airbus A330-300.

Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying

Have you traveled on Air France between Paris Charles de Gaulle and Minneapolis-St. Paul? Will the schedule change affect your future travel plans? Share your experiences by commenting below.