Air France Partners with Michelin-Starred Chef on Select U.S. Routes

Air France is taking its La Première and Business Class service to the next level with all-new dining options crafted by Michelin-starred chef Dominique Crenn.

Passengers departing from Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Newark, San Francisco, and Seattle to Paris will have the opportunity to experience this culinary journey at 30,000 feet.

Photo: La Première dish. Courtesy of Air France

For the menu, Chef Crenn created twelve original dishes for customers to enjoy onboard. The airline will offer two signature dishes in each cabin, including a vegetarian option and a fish dish, in addition to the existing onboard menu. 

To reduce food waste, the airline will offer customers traveling in the Business Class cabin to pre-select their hot dish up to 24 hours before their flight. 

Photo: La Première dish. Courtesy of Air France

Crenn is the only woman in the U.S. with three Michelin stars. She is committed to developing inventive cuisine options for the France-based carrier, focusing on local and seasonal produce. 

Some menu options for the La Première cabin include Lobster, pico de gallo, tea sauce, or root vegetable mille-feuille with truffle sauce. La Première was named the world’s best first class in last year’s Business Traveler Awards.

Photo: La Première dish. Courtesy of Air France

For the Business Class cabin, customers can enjoy Californian charbonnier with quinoa and marinière sauce or open raviole, courgette, and tomato in a hazelnut and parmesan sauce. 

In the spring/summer season, the meals will be available from all Air France destinations in the U.S.  

Photo: Business Class dish. Courtesy of Air France

The airline is expanding its partnerships with chefs across the globe, starting with its international stations in Paris. Julien Royer is collaborating with the airline on departures from Singapore, while Olivier Perret is working on Canada departures, Jofrane Dailly on departures from La Réunion, and Jean-Charles Bredas on flights from the French West Indies, French Guiana, and its regional Caribbean network. All these collaborations aim to enhance the onboard experience for passengers.

The Largest Network Linking Paris and the U.S. 

Air France has announced that it will resume its services to Minneapolis in May and launch a new route from Phoenix to Paris-Charles de Gaulle (CDG). It is worth noting that the flight from Phoenix will be the first direct connection between Paris and the city. 

Photo: Air France, Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. Courtesy of Boeing

Air France already operates flights to 16 destinations across the U.S., including Atlanta (ATL), Boston (BOS), Chicago (ORD), Dallas (DFW), Denver (DEN), Detroit (DTW), Houston (IAH), Los Angeles (LAX), Miami (MIA), New York (JFK), Newark (EWR), Raleigh-Durham (RDU), San Francisco (SFO), Seattle (SEA), and Washington D.C. (IAD). With the addition of the new routes, the airline will fly to 17 destinations across the country next summer.

Photo: La Premiere. Courtesy of Air France

The airline’s exclusive La Première cabin is only available on certain flights to and from New York (JFK), Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, and Washington D.C.

Train + Air Service Expansion 

At the end of the year, Air France expanded its ‘Train + Air’ service by adding eight more rail routes. 

The addition enables travelers to purchase SNCF rail tickets to Paris airports from various locations throughout France under a single reservation when they book their flight tickets. 

Photo: SNCF, France. Courtesy of Antoine Schibler / Unsplash

This service can be used for inbound and outbound flights from CDG and Paris-Orly Airport (ORY). It’s meant to provide passengers with more options when traveling around France and came when the country banned short-haul domestic flights between destinations that can be reached by rail in less than 2.5 hours.