Air France is putting two fresh dots on its US map. From mid-May 2027, the French flag carrier will fly nonstop from Paris Charles de Gaulle to both Nashville and San Diego — the first time it has served either city on a regular scheduled basis.
The Nashville route kicks off on 14 May 2027, running three times a week on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. The 4,372-mile hop is blocked at around 9.5 hours westbound and 8 hours 20 minutes back to Paris. Flights leave Paris at 2:10pm and arrive in Nashville at 4:40pm, with the return departing at 6:55pm. An Airbus A350-900 covers the route, so you get business class, premium economy and economy in Air France's latest long-haul configuration.
San Diego follows on 17 May 2027, also three times weekly on the same days of the week. This one is longer — 5,698 miles, blocked at roughly 11 hours 40 minutes going west and just under 11 hours coming home. The outbound leaves Paris at 10:10am and lands in San Diego at 12:50pm the same day, a genuinely civilised arrival time. The return pushes back at 3:10pm. Same aircraft type, same three cabins.
Both cities already have transatlantic pedigree. Nashville is currently served by Aer Lingus and British Airways, plus seasonal Icelandair flights, so Air France gives the SkyTeam alliance camp its first direct Tennessee link. San Diego is further along: British Airways, KLM and Lufthansa all fly there, meaning all three big transatlantic joint ventures are present — and with Air France joining KLM, SkyTeam becomes the first of those alliances to have two carriers at the airport.
There's a strategic backstory too. Air France recently trimmed its Denver service, and these new routes look like a smarter way to redeploy those aircraft. Denver is United fortress territory, whereas San Diego and Nashville offer room to grow without going head-to-head with a dominant competitor.
For travellers, the appeal goes beyond Paris. Departing from either city, you can connect at CDG across Europe and well beyond — North Africa, the Middle East, India and other long-haul destinations that would otherwise mean awkward multi-stop routings. And for Europeans, direct one-stop-free access to Music City and Southern California's beach capital gets easier from summer 2027.
Timetables this far out can still shift slightly, but if the plan holds, May 2027 is when bookings open up a whole new set of one-stop itineraries through Paris. Anyone holding Flying Blue miles should keep an eye on award space once the routes load into the system — new launches like this often open with decent redemption availability.
Story via One Mile at a Time
