Airports & aviation
Air France Extends Its Paris–Punta Cana Agreement Through May 2027
The news is not a new route. It is a longer one — and it widens the season in which a French traveller can reach Punta Cana, Miches or Bayahibe nonstop.
- Published
- Dan Guzmán
- 4 min read
- Airports & aviation
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Agreement extended through | 1 May 2027 |
| Signed at | IFTM Top Resa 2026, Paris |
| First restored season | 13 January – 28 March 2026 |
| Frequencies | Three a week (Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday) |
| Aircraft | Boeing 777-300, 442 seats |
| Arrival airport | Punta Cana International (PUJ) |
What was actually signed, and what it changes
Air France and the Dominican Republic renewed the agreement that allowed the airline to resume flying to the country in 2025 after several years away. At IFTM Top Resa 2026 in Paris, Tourism Minister David Collado and Air France commercial director Frédéric Descours signed an extension of that agreement through 1 May 2027 (arecoa, 15 September 2026).
That is a different story from "Air France is launching a route". The airline is already back. What changed is the length of the runway underneath the connection: the agreement now reaches into the French spring travel period rather than stopping at the end of the winter season.
The restored service ran seasonally from 13 January to 28 March 2026, with three flights a week on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, and it connects Punta Cana with more than 200 destinations in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East through Air France's Paris-Charles de Gaulle hub. The route is operated with a Boeing 777-300 configured for 442 passengers across business, premium and economy.
Flight schedules change. Treat the dates above as the current published programme and confirm your own dates with the airline when you book.
Why the trade-show timing matters
The signature landed at IFTM Top Resa, one of France's principal travel-industry events, held in Paris in mid-September — exactly when French tour operators and travel sellers are building their winter and spring programmes. An agreement signed in that room tends to show up in what is actually sold in France a few months later.
PUJ is the arrival airport, not the destination
The most useful thing a French traveller can know about this connection is that Punta Cana International Airport is a gateway, not a verdict on where the holiday happens.
Our Punta Cana airport transfer service runs from PUJ across the east of the country — Punta Cana and Bávaro, Uvero Alto, Miches, La Romana and Bayahibe. A transatlantic arrival is the moment when a pre-arranged private transfer earns its keep: the flight lands, the driver is already tracking it, and the road leg is part of the itinerary rather than a decision made at the kerb with luggage.
Miches
Of the three destinations worth reading alongside this news, Miches has the clearest link to the French market. When the Dominican Republic presented Air France's return at IFTM Top Resa in 2025, the Ministry of Tourism chose Miches as its featured destination for the French travel trade — a deliberate development decision rather than a coincidence of geography.
Miches sits on the Costa Esmeralda, north of the traditional Punta Cana resort corridor, and it is reached overland from PUJ rather than through a separate international airport. Read our Miches transportation guide, or go straight to the Punta Cana airport to Miches transfer page.
Bayahibe
Bayahibe sits on the Caribbean side of the southeast coast and offers a different holiday from the scale of Bávaro: clear water, a village base, and access to Saona Island, Catalina Island and Cotubaná National Park (Go Dominican Republic). It is popular with European and Latin American travellers.
La Romana (LRM) is the closest airport when its schedule works, but PUJ is a practical gateway and we serve the route directly. Our Bayahibe transportation guide sets out both.
Samaná — compare the airport before you book the flight
Here we will argue against ourselves, because it is the honest answer. If the whole holiday is on the Samaná peninsula — Las Terrenas, Las Galeras, Samaná town — flying into Samaná El Catey (AZS) is usually the better choice when the seasonal schedule fits, rather than landing at PUJ and crossing the country by road.
Our Samaná transportation guide compares AZS with Santo Domingo and Punta Cana, and if El Catey works for your dates you can book a private Samaná airport transfer from there.
Planning the arrival
- Book the road leg before you leave France. The point of a longer season is a longer planning window; use it.
- Tell us the flight number, not just the time. We track the flight, so a late arrival from Paris does not cost you your driver.
- Count the luggage honestly. Transatlantic parties travel heavy, and the vehicle is assigned from what you tell us.
- If immigration worries you, read the arrivals side. Fast Track at PUJ exists for exactly the high-season queue.
The wider point is not that Punta Cana has gained another international route. France and the Dominican Republic are better connected than they were two years ago, and the same Paris departure now opens several very different Dominican holidays — the resort corridor, the Costa Esmeralda at Miches, the southeast coast at Bayahibe — with Samaná increasingly answered by its own airport.
