PHILIPSBURG--Air France (AF) announced on Monday that it would, as of December 12, offer an additional weekly flight on Saturdays to Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA) from Paris Charles de Gaulle CDG, increasing its offer to eight weekly flights in winter 2015.
The new Saturday flight will be operated by Airbus A340 with 275 seats; 30 in Business, 21 Premium Economy and 224 in Economy.
It arrives in St. Maarten at 8:15pm (from a 4:10pm departure), as opposed to the regular arrival time of 2:55pm (from a 10:45am departure).
The new flight returns to CDG, arriving at 11:35am the following day (from a 10:15pm departure), rather than the regular arrival time of 6:20am the following day (from a 5:00pm departure).
“Since June 2014, thanks to a strengthened partnership with Winair, Air France has been offering six intra-Caribbean destinations on departure from [St. Maarten –Ed.]: St. Barthelemy, Tortola, Saba, St. Eustatius, St. Kitts and Nevis, operated on a code-share basis,” the AF announcement stated.
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines serves St. Maarten from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport (AMS) three times weekly – on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays – operated by Boeing 747 with 408 seats; 35 in Business Class and 373 in Economy, including 36 in Economy Comfort.
“Air France-KLM is positioning itself as leader on this route by offering 11 weekly flights” between Europe and St. Maarten this winter.
Also in response to buoyancy in the Caribbean, Air France-KLM increased the number of flights between Europe and Cuba, offering 15 weekly flights and up to three daily flights during the upcoming winter season.
The company will also offer up to 13 weekly flights between Paris-Orly Airport and Martinique’s Aimé Césaire International Airport, and two daily flights between Paris-Orly Airport and Guadeloupe’s Pointe-à-Pitre International Airport from January 11 to March 27, 2016.
Besides flights to St. Maarten, AF operates a regional network in the Caribbean, linking Guadeloupe; Martinique; Cayenne, French Guiana; Port au Prince, Haiti; and Miami, United States. Two Airbus A320 and crews dedicated to this network operate more than 30 flights per week.
Since April, AF has been offering six new destinations from Pointe-à-Pitre: St. Lucia; San Juan, Puerto Rico; Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; St. Martin; St. Maarten and Dominica, operated on a codeshare basis with Air Antilles.
