French Bee

French Bee SAS, styled as French bee, and formerly named 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 parent company Groupe Dubreuil's offices in the Belleville-sur-Vie area of Bellevigny, Vendée, France.[1][2]

French bee
IATA ICAO Callsign
BF FBU FRENCH BEE
Founded2016
Commenced operations10 September 2016
HubsParis–Orly
Fleet size3
Destinations4
Parent companyGroupe Dubreuil
HeadquartersBellevigny, France
Key peopleMarc Rochet
Websitefrenchbee.com

History
A French Bee Airbus A330-300, in the 2016–17 branding as French Blue

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][8] The airline planned to hire 400 employees within two years.[9]

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".[10][11]

Destinations

French Bee serves or has previously served the following destinations:[12]

Country City Airport Notes Ref.
Dominican RepublicPunta CanaPunta Cana International AirportTerminated
FranceParisOrly AirportHub
France (French Polynesia)PapeeteFaa'a International Airport[13]
France (Réunion)Saint-DenisRoland Garros Airport[14]
United StatesNewarkNewark Liberty International AirportBegins 12 July 2020[15]
San FranciscoSan Francisco International Airport[13]

Interline agreements

French Bee has an interlining agreement with Alaska Airlines.[16]

Codeshare agreements

French Bee has a codeshare agreement with sister airline Air Caraïbes.[17]

Fleet
French Bee Airbus A350-900

As of August 2019, the French Bee fleet consists of the following aircraft:[18][19]

French Bee Fleet
Aircraft In
Service		 Orders Passengers Notes
P Y Total
Airbus A350-900 3 1 36 376 412 Fourth aircraft to be delivered in June 2020.[20]
Airbus A350-1000 — 2 TBA 488 Deliveries deferred to 2021 and 2022.[20][21]
Total 3 3

Historical Fleet

French Bee previously operated an Airbus A330-300, which was transferred to Air Caraïbes after receiving its third Airbus A350-900.[22]

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. Liu, Jim (8 June 2016). "French blue Opens Reservation for Punta Cana Sep 2016 Launch". Routesonline. UBM (UK) Ltd. Retrieved 23 August 2016.
  8. "French Blue launches operations from Paris to Punta Cana". ATW Air Transport World. 13 September 2016.
  9. "French Blue, cette low-cost long-courrier qui veut secouer le marché" (in French). 17 March 2016.
  10. "Application of French SAS for a United States foreign air carrier permit" (PDF). 30 November 2017.
  11. "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.
  12. "Our Flights". French bee. Retrieved 17 July 2019.
  13. "May launch for French Blue's Tahiti flights". Radio New Zealand. Retrieved 18 November 2017.
  14. Liu, Jim (6 October 2016). "French Blue opens Reunion service from June 2017". Routesonline. Informa Markets.
  15. https://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/291656/french-bee-moves-newark-launch-to-july-2020/
  16. "French Bee announces the implementation of an interline agreement with Alaska Airlines" (PDF). French bee (Press release). 4 February 2020. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
  17. "Customer commitment plan". French bee. Retrieved 17 July 2019.
  18. "Global Airline Guide 2019 (Part One)". Airliner World. October 2019: 14.
  19. "French bee Fleet Details and History". Planespotters.net. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
  20. Massy-Beresford, Helen (20 June 2019). "French Bee Growing Airbus A350 Fleet, Long-Haul Destinations". Aviation Daily. Informa Markets. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  21. 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.
  22. "F-HPUJ Air Caraïbes Airbus A330-300". Planespotters.net. Retrieved 17 July 2019.

Media related to French Bee at Wikimedia Commons

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.