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Air France now offers direct Vancouver-to-Paris flight

Air France's first non-stop flight landed at YVR on Sunday. The cheapest one-way ticket appears to be $824, to Paris.
17191BCLN2007Paris_Night
The recognizable skyline of Paris. It's pretty okay.

Squint, and you can almost see the City of Lights.

On Sunday, Air France announced a new direct flight between Vancouver and Paris, a service that will start at three times a week, then increase to five weekly after May 3, 2015. Last weekend's announcement was joined by the company's first direct flight, a 309-seat carrier that landed at YVR before noon.

Air France's website currently advertises the direct flight at $824 – the cheapest one-way option, it seems, after doing a quick ticket search.

"'From sea-to-sea' is the national motto of Canada," said Air France-KLM exec Patrick Alexandra, in the company's press release. "With the launch of a new service to Vancouver, Air France is adopting Canada's motto.

"Through our ambition to portray French excellence and lifestyle, we are proud to offer our Canadian and French customers the best of Air France's products and services."

Air France already flies direct from/to Paris out of Toronto and Montreal.

"British Columbians have been asking for direct service to Paris for some time and we are very excited to welcome Air France to YVR," said the Vancouver Airport Authority's president and CEO, Craig Richmond, on Sunday. "This new service creatives opportunity for business, tourism, and trade, and strengthens our already strong air access ties with Europe."

Air France is owned by KLM, a Dutch airlines company.

Global BC quoted Vancouver 'airport officials' in saying that the new service will create 'about 250 new positions' at YVR, and the network's travel expert Claire Newell said the new line will be a major pleaser for those about to be abroad.

"A lot of people don't want to go somewhere where the US dollar is key because our dollar doesn't go that far," Newell said (link above). "But the euro has come down and the Canadian dollar, you get more bang for your buck going to Europe."