French Bee

French Bee SAS
IATA ICAO Callsign
BF FBU FRENCH BEE
Founded 2016
Hubs Paris–Orly
Fleet size 3
Destinations 5
Parent company Groupe Dubreuil
Headquarters Bellevigny, France
Key people Marc Rochet
Website frenchbee.com

French Bee SAS, styled as French bee, and formerly French Blue, is a French low-cost, long-haul airline based at Paris Orly Airport. It operates a scheduled network between France and worldwide leisure destinations. Its head office is in the Dubreuil Group offices in the Belleville-sur-Vie area of Bellevigny, Vendée, France.[1][2]

History

Groupe Dubreuil, the owner of Air Caraïbes, established the airline in 2016 as "French Blue".[3][4] The airline operated some long-haul flights on behalf of Air Caraïbes from 1 July 2016,[5][6] before the airline's first flight from Paris Orly to Punta Cana on 10 September 2016.[7] The airline planned to hire 400 employees within two years.[8]

In November 2017, while the airline as "French Blue" was applying with the United States Department of Transportation for a foreign air carrier permit to begin service to the country, US-based JetBlue Airways raised objections to another airline serving the country bearing the word "Blue" in its name; in response, the airline was temporarily renamed to simply "French", before the airline announced on 30 January 2018 that it was rebranding as "French Bee".[9][10]

Destinations

French Bee serves the following destinations:[11]

Country City Airport Notes Ref.
Dominican RepublicPunta CanaPunta Cana International Airport
FranceParisOrly Airport
French Polynesia, FrancePapeeteFaa'a International Airport[12]
Réunion, FranceSaint-DenisRoland Garros Airport[13]
United StatesSan FranciscoSan Francisco International Airport[12]

Fleet

A French Bee Airbus A330-300 in its former "French Blue" branding.

As of October 2018, the French Bee fleet consists of the following aircraft:[14][15][16][17][18][19]

French Bee Fleet
Aircraft In Service Orders Passengers Notes
P Y Total
Airbus A330-300 1 — 28 350 378 To be transferred to Air Caraïbes in 2019.[20]
Airbus A350-900 2 1 35 376 411
Airbus A350-1000 — 1 TBA TBA TBA To be delivered in December 2019.[20]
Total 3 2

References

  1. ↑ "Website Publisher". French Bee. Retrieved 19 May 2018.
  2. ↑ "NOUS CONTACTER". Dubreuil Group (in French). Retrieved 19 May 2018.
  3. ↑ "Long-haul budget airline French Blue sets two-year deadline to break even". Reuters. 2016-03-17. Retrieved 2016-06-05.
  4. ↑ "French Blue, la nouvelle compagnie low-cost long courrier française".
  5. ↑ "French Blue lance le low-cost long courrier à 149 euros TTC ! (l'aller simple)". La Tribune (in French). 7 June 2016.
  6. ↑ "Guadeloupe : 1ère escale de l'A330-300 de French Blue" [Guadeloupe : French Blue A330-300's first stopover] (in French). TourMag. 5 July 2016.
  7. ↑ "French Blue launches operations from Paris to Punta Cana". ATW Air Transport World. 13 September 2016.
  8. ↑ "French Blue, cette low-cost long-courrier qui veut secouer le marché" (in French). 17 March 2016.
  9. ↑ "Application of French SAS for a United States foreign air carrier permit" (PDF). 30 November 2017.
  10. ↑ "La compagnie aérienne French blue devient French bee" [The airline French blue becomes French bee]. Le Figaro (in French). 30 January 2018. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  11. ↑ Liu, Jim (8 June 2016). "French blue Opens Reservation for Punta Cana Sep 2016 Launch". Airline Route. Retrieved 23 August 2016.
  12. 1 2 "May launch for French Blue's Tahiti flights". Radio New Zealand. Retrieved 18 November 2017.
  13. ↑ "French Blue opens Reunion service from June 2017". Routes Online.
  14. ↑ "Global Airline Guide 2017 (Part One)". Airliner World (October 2017): 14.
  15. ↑ "Air Caraïbes lance French blue à l'assaut du low-cost long-courrier".
  16. ↑ "French blue, la première low cost long-courrier française".
  17. ↑ "Air Caraïbes explose ses résultats avec des bénéfices record". May 8, 2016.
  18. ↑ "Startup French Blue takes its first aircraft". Air Transport World. 8 June 2016.
  19. ↑ "French Blue lance son aller-retour Réunion-Paris à partir de 618 euros" [French Blue to introduce Paris to Réunion round trip ticket from 618 euros]. Clicanoo (in French). 5 October 2016.
  20. 1 2 Duclos, François (7 June 2018). "Deux A350 de plus pour Air Caraïbes et French bee" [Two more A350s for Air Caraïbes and French bee]. Air Journal (in French). Retrieved 12 October 2018.
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