Eurostar or no Eurostar, the air market between France and the UK continues to perform rather well. With 11.03 million passengers between the two countries, the France/UK route is the 7th largest air market and 6th if domestic traffic is excluded. In Europe, France ranks 5th, behind Spain, Germany, Italy and Ireland. Over the last five years, the number of passengers between France and the UK has grown by 14.2% and represents a market share of 5.2% of all international passengers in the UK.
Surprising as it may seem, in 2015 the UK Civil Aviation Authority counted 175 scheduled air routes operated between the two countries. Only one route now generates more than a million passengers a year, the Paris CDG-London Heathrow route, and only one other, Gatwick-Nice, has well over half a million passengers. Paris CDG-London Heathrow grew modestly in 2015, up by just 0.4%, while the Paris Orly-Heathrow route recorded a 7.7% increase in passengers. The Paris CDG-London Gatwick route was the airline that really took off. It passed the 200,000 passenger mark (206,128 passengers to be exact), an increase of 45% over 2014.
The main air routes between France and Great Britain in 2015
