Air France will launch flights between Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) and Abu Dhabi International Airport (AUH) in October, buttressing its Middle East offering for the 2023-24 Northern Hemisphere winter season.

The CDG-AUH route will be flown daily with an Airbus A350-900 configured with 324 seats, including 34 in business class.

AUH-based Etihad Airways currently operates daily between Abu Dhabi and CDG, codesharing with Air France on the route.

Etihad currently places its code on Air France flights from CDG to six European destinations, while Air France codeshares on a number of Etihad routes from AUH.

The CDG-AUH route brings to five the number of Middle East cities Air France will serve from CDG for the 2023-24 winter schedule. Aside from AUH, the airline serves Beirut, Cairo, Dubai and Tel Aviv.

Air France plans to operate up to 49 weekly flights combined on the five CDG-Middle East routes during the winter season.