New airline French bee has MIA buzzing with joy

Officials from Miami-Dade County and French low-cost carrier French bee hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony on December 15 before the airline’s inaugural departure from Miami International Airport to Paris-Orly Airport (ORY). The launch gives MIA nonstop service to both international airports in the French capital city and creates MIA’s 18^th nonstop route in Europe.

French bee launched the Miami route with three weekly flights but plans to increase its frequency to four times per week in April 2023. The French airline will operate the Miami service with Airbus A350-900 aircraft that seat a total of 411 passengers in a configuration of 376 seats in economy class and 35 seats in premium class.  

The MIA launch makes Miami the airline’s first route in the southeast U.S., fourth route in the U.S., and eighth route worldwide. Founded in 2016, French bee is now the 11^th low-cost carrier at MIA, joining Frontier Airlines, GOL, JetBlue Airways, SKY Airline Peru, Southwest Airlines, Spirit Airlines, Sunwing, Viva Air, Volaris, and WestJet.

In addition to Paris-Orly, passengers can fly to Paris Charles De Gaulle Airport from MIA with American Airlines and Air France. Before the pandemic, nearly half a million travelers flew between France and MIA annually.