Air France plans to open two U.S. routes during the summer 2027 season, launching flights to Nashville and San Diego.
The airline will launch 3X-weekly flights from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) to Nashville International Airport (BNA) in Tennessee on May 14, followed by a 3X-weekly route to San Diego International Airport (SAN) on May 17. Both will be operated using Airbus A350-900 aircraft.
The additions, first flagged by Ishrion Aviation, coincide with Air France’s planned withdrawal from Denver International Airport (DEN). Although the carrier has not said that BNA and SAN are direct replacements, it has closed reservations for CDG-DEN flights during summer 2027.
Air France’s exit comes as United Airlines prepares to launch daily, year-round flights between Denver and Paris from May 27 using 257-seat Boeing 787-9 aircraft. United’s large DEN hub and higher frequency would have made the market more challenging for Air France.
However, neither Nashville nor San Diego has nonstop Paris service, allowing Air France to capture local demand while also feeding connecting traffic through its CDG hub.
Both markets have recorded strong growth in travel to Europe. Sabre Market Intelligence shows that about 568,900 two-way O&D passengers traveled between Nashville and Europe during 2025, up 22.4% from the previous year. Paris was Nashville’s fourth-largest European destination, attracting approximately 33,600 passengers.
San Diego generated about 800,700 Europe passengers during 2025, an increase of 7.3%. Paris ranked second behind London, with traffic rising 28.3% to approximately 53,000 passengers.
The Paris route will further widen Nashville’s expanding European network. OAG Schedules Analyser data shows the airport offered about 220,400 two-way seats to Europe during summer 2026, up 17.5% year over year.
British Airways provided approximately 125,900 seats to London Heathrow Airport (LHR), while Aer Lingus offered 54,500 to Dublin and Icelandair supplied 40,000 to Reykjavik Keflavik. Paris will therefore become Nashville’s fourth nonstop European gateway.
San Diego offered approximately 364,200 two-way Europe seats during summer 2026, up 10.5%. British Airways accounted for about 204,600 seats to LHR, while Lufthansa provided 107,700 to Munich and Air France partner KLM offered 50,700 to Amsterdam.
Overall, Air France offered about 3.69 million two-way seats between CDG and the U.S. during summer 2026, up 4.8% from the previous year. That expansion included the launch of Las Vegas and capacity increases at Newark, New Jersey, and Orlando, Florida.
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