Air France Returns to London Gatwick After 30 Years With Twice-Daily CDG Service

LONDON — Air France (AF) has resumed operations at London Gatwick (LGW) for the first time since 1996, introducing a twice-daily service to Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG). This route reestablishes a direct connection between London’s second-busiest airport and Air France’s main global hub.

Gatwick reports the new service provides two daily departures in each direction, with LGW–CDG flights at 10:30 and 17:10, and CDG–LGW at 09:20 and 15:45 (local time).

Air France operates the route with the Airbus A220 and positions LGW–CDG as a feeder to its long-haul network via Paris, offering onward connections to the U.S., Africa, Asia, and South America.

The Gatwick relaunch coincides with broader airport growth. LGW will welcome nine new airlines in 2026, reflecting increased carrier interest and greater slot availability as the airport expands its network.

Three Decades Ago

Air France last operated regular flights at London Gatwick (LGW) in 1996. Today’s restart is described as a “return after three decades” in both LGWs announcement and UK trade coverage.

In the mid-1990s, LGW operated as London’s secondary airport, focusing on leisure travel, charter flights, and a significant British Airways (BA) presence. Meanwhile, premium and connecting traffic shifted to London Heathrow (LHR). During this period, AF restructured its network around a hub model at CDG, with Terminal 2 serving as the main center for connecting flights.

A notable Air France event at Gatwick during that era was not a scheduled route, but a marketing campaign. On April 2, 1996, Pepsi held a major event at Gatwick featuring an Air France Concorde painted in blue “Pepsi” livery, creating one of the decade’s most iconic one-off aircraft liveries. A star-studded event featuring celebrities like Claudia Schiffer, Andre Agassi, and Cindy Crawford, attended the unveiling at LGW.

In the broader London–Paris market, short-haul traffic faced increasing competition by the mid-1990s. Regulators reported significant declines in passenger numbers across carriers, influencing how airlines allocated limited London capacity between Heathrow and Gatwick during that period.