The airlines Volotea, Air Caraïbes and french bee have announced a strategic cooperation that will significantly simplify travel between regional cities in Europe and long-haul destinations worldwide.
With an interline agreement signed on August 6, 2025, the three airlines now enable their passengers to travel seamlessly via Paris-Orly Airport with just a single ticket and continuous baggage service . The agreement, which has already entered into force, provides travelers from eight regional cities in France and Italy with direct connections to attractive destinations in the Caribbean, the French overseas territories, North America, and Réunion.
Unified travel experience: The benefits for passengers
The interline agreement aims to improve the customer experience and optimize travel to long-haul destinations. For passengers departing from regional airports, the new cooperation offers a number of tangible benefits:
- A single ticket: Travelers can book their entire journey, from local cities to long-haul destinations, on a single ticket. This eliminates the complexity of coordinating separate flights and dealing with different booking processes.
- Direct baggage transport: Baggage is checked in at the departure airport and checked directly to the final destination. This eliminates the need to collect and recheck baggage at Paris-Orly, making the transfer significantly faster and more convenient.
- Optimized transfers: The flight schedules of the three airlines have been coordinated to optimize transfer times at Paris-Orly Airport. This minimizes waiting time and ensures a smoother transition between flights.
These improvements are not only a convenience for travelers, but also a strategic measure to promote tourism and facilitate access to overseas regions and transatlantic markets.
Expanded route network: Europe meets the world
The new partnership expands the connection of regional airports to a global route network. Travelers from eight cities in France and Italy—including Lourdes, Genoa, Turin, and Verona—will now benefit from the expanded travel options.
- The Air Caribbean and french bee, both of which operate their long-haul flights from Paris-Orly, offer a wide range of destinations in the Caribbean (e.g. Guadeloupe and Martinique), French Polynesia, the USA and Canada, as well as on the island of Réunion.
- The Spanish airline Volotea serves a variety of regional destinations from its bases in France and Italy and acts as a feeder for the long-haul flights of its partner airlines.
The decision to use Paris-Orly as the central hub is remarkable. While the larger Paris-Charles de Gaulle (CDG) airport has traditionally served as the main hub for international flights in France, Orly has increasingly established itself as a key hub for traffic to the French overseas territories and selected long-haul destinations. The partnership optimally leverages Orly's geographical location and infrastructure to ensure efficient transfers.
Sales strategy and market entry
The combined flight schedules have been bookable since August 6, 2025, through the Air Caraïbes and French Bee websites, as well as through partner travel agencies. Volotea, as the third partner, is integrating its partners' long-haul flights into its own booking system. This joint sales strategy simplifies the booking process for travelers and increases the visibility of the new connections in the market.
The interline agreement is a sign of increasing cooperation in the aviation industry to meet the challenges of a highly competitive market. It allows airlines to expand their reach without investing in new aircraft or routes. Instead, they leverage the strengths of their respective partners to create a more attractive offering for their customers. Such agreements are common in aviation, but the specific constellation of Volotea as a regional carrier with Air Caraïbes and French Bee as long-haul providers is an interesting strategic response to the needs of travelers in a globalized market.
The players: Who are Volotea, Air Caraïbes and French Bee?
The three partners are well established in European and international aviation.
- Volotea was founded in 2011 and specializes in regional flights within Europe. The airline is known for its direct connections between smaller and medium-sized cities, which are often not served by major airlines.
- Air Caribbean is a French airline specializing in flights to the Caribbean and the French overseas territories. It is an important link between mainland France and the overseas territories.
- french bee (formerly French Blue) is a low-cost long-haul airline that also operates from Paris-Orly and flies to destinations such as the USA, Tahiti and Réunion.
Bringing these three distinct business models together under one roof creates a diverse travel offering that appeals to both price-sensitive passengers and travelers who value comfort and convenience. The cooperation is a promising step toward strengthening the market position of all three airlines and offering customers real added value.