Chalair Aviation, a French regional airline has announced an extension to its small route network, adding seasonal flights between its home base of Caen in Normandy and Southampton Airport on the south coast of England. The flights between Caen-Carpiquet Airport (CFR) and Southampton Airport (SOU) will be flown by an ATR 72 aircraft and will operate every Friday and Sunday from June 28, 2024, until September 22, 2024.
For its scheduled services, Chalair operates a fleet of three ATR42-500s and a single ATR72-500 which accommodate 48 and 70 passengers, respectively. The carrier operates scheduled services on several domestic routes in France as well as seasonal flights to Ajaccio in Corsica, Kerry in Ireland, and now Southampton in the UK. The carrier has also operated the Beech 1900D turboprop for charter flights in the past.
“We are thrilled to not only welcome new partner Chalair for what is the airline’s first UK route, but we are also celebrating Southampton Airport’s first-ever service to Caen,” said Christopher Tibbett, Aero Director for AGS Airports, which owns Southampton Airport.
“Southampton is the only UK airport that will operate a service to the Caen, so we anticipate that the route will be popular with passengers looking to explore this historic French city or those who own second homes in the wider Normandy region. With fantastic 40-minute flight times departing Friday mornings and returning Sunday afternoons, Chalair’s Caen service will also be the ideal destination for a summer weekend getaway,” he added.
The new Chalair service brings the second new French destination to be added to Southampton Airport’s list of cities served in April 2024. On April 1, 2024, Eastern Airways, a UK regional airline, commenced services to Charles De Gaulle Airport (CDG) in Paris, with the previously flown services to Paris-Orly (ORY) being transferred to CDG.
Operated in cooperation with Air France, the new service to Paris’ premier international gateway airport coincides with the Summer 2024 Olympics & Paralympics as France becomes a sporting focus city in the coming months.
“This is a fantastic route announcement from Air France and Eastern Airways offering a great addition to our summer schedule at Southampton in 2024, building on partner airline KLM’s flights to Amsterdam,” said Christopher Tibbet at the time. “The service to Charles-De-Gaulle will deliver quick and convenient connectivity to one of Europe’s greatest destinations, and will be very popular with our passengers from Southampton and the wider Hampshire region.”
The new Paris Charles-De-Gaulle service operates into T3 (terminal 3) at CDG and is flown by Eastern Airways 72-seat ATR72 aircraft.
