Paris-Pau low-cost air route ending due to lack of passengers

Low-cost airline Transavia has announced that its Paris-Pau route will end in October due to low passenger numbers. 

The low-cost wing of the Air France-KLM group has announced that the final flight between Paris Orly airport and Pau (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) will run on October 26.

“Despite programme and timetable adjustments, and a proactive pricing policy in the face of competition from the Orly-Tarbes route, the level of demand… remains insufficient to ensure the economic equilibrium and sustainability of the route,” said a Transavia spokesperson to French media outlet Actu. 

Passenger numbers on the route have dropped by around two-thirds since the Covid pandemic – in 2019, around 90,000 people flew between the two airports per year, but recent annual figures show only 30,000 trips. 

Read more: Many smaller French airports struggling to recover post Covid 

Other transport options continue between the two cities

However, Transavia’s parent company Air France will still fly four planes per day between Paris Charles de Gaulle airport and Pau (two in each direction). 

There are concerns that prices on this route will rise, however, due to the lack of competition and Air France being a more luxurious carrier. 

Additionally, up to 10 trains per day connect the two cities, including direct high speed TGV routes, as well as seasonal overnight trains in the summer. 

The quickest journey by rail between the two cities takes a little over four hours, and does not require any connections. 

Domestic flights in France are banned when journeys between cities takes less than two and a half hours by rail.

However the criteria for judging whether an airport is located ‘in’ a city or not means only three routes have so far been axed by the legislation. 

Read more: SNCF launches low-cost train travel offer for French and European routes for September