XL Airways France, a small European carrier that has offered seasonal nonstop flights between Las Vegas and Paris since 2010, is increasing efforts to attract Southern Nevada passengers to fly to France through an old-school network — travel agents.
The airline hosted a web conference today with travel agents to promote XL’s service from four U.S. gateways, including McCarran International Airport.
XL will offer one weekly nonstop round trip between Paris’ Charles de Gaul International Airport and Las Vegas and will start its seasonal service here in June. Flights will operate Fridays in June and Thursdays in July and August.
Airline spokesman Shreyas Nauvonti said the biggest appeal of the service is Paris itself, but customers also will appreciate the airline’s new fleet of Airbus A330 wide-body jets and its discounted fares.
On its Las Vegas route, XL will operate two-class service with 343 seats in its economy section and 21 in its upgraded Galaxie class.
“Paris is such a great city to visit anyway,” Nauvonti said, “and we have a fleet of aircraft less than eight years old. But most of our sales are generated by our price point.”
XL’s website [xl.com] — an English language version can be accessed from the site — shows its best round-trip fare of 666 euros, or $868 between Las Vegas and Paris. Comparable tickets on other airlines start at $1,480, and flights make two stops, according to Kayak.com.
Today’s web conference was to familiarize travel agents with XL, which also flies routes to Paris from San Francisco, New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and Miami and from New York to France’s second-largest city, Marseille.
The airline also has connecting flights to other French cities and three cities in Italy. XL operates 14 flights a week between France and the United States.
Last year, on a May-through-September seasonal schedule, XL transported 8,278 passengers to and from Las Vegas.
XL’s other seasonal destinations include Mexico and the Caribbean.