Air France Operates Special Flights During Pope Leo XIV’s Visit to France. As Pope Leo XIV‘s official visit to France gets underway, Air France is currently operating three special flights connecting Paris-Orly, Tarbes-Lourdes-Pyrénées, Metz-Nancy-Lorraine, and Rome-Fiumicino from September 26 to 28, 2026.
For this state mission, Air France has deployed a specially configured Airbus A321 featuring two cabins to accommodate the Pontiff, his official delegation of over 70 people—including representatives from the Holy See and the Swiss Guard—and more than 80 accredited international journalists. Throughout the trip, the aircraft has been temporarily renamed “Cité du Vatican” (Vatican City) and displays the official Vatican coat of arms on its fuselage.
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Designated as official State flights benefiting from priority air traffic handling, the operation involves over 100 Air France staff across multiple operational divisions. “It is an immense source of pride to play a direct role in Pope Leo XIV’s visit to France and to welcome the Holy Father and his delegation aboard,” stated Clémence Coussonneau, Air France Captain heading the flight crew. Additionally, Transavia France, a subsidiary of the Air France-KLM Group, is operating a charter flight between Orly and Lourdes for an additional delegation of bishops and journalists.
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Prior to departure, Air France presented Pope Leo XIV with a vintage 1950 poster created by artist Plaquet under former company president Max Hymans, originally designed to encourage spiritual travel to Rome. The carrier has a storied history of papal flights, having previously flown Pope John Paul II aboard a Concorde in 1989 from Saint-Denis de La Réunion to Lusaka, Zambia, and on an Airbus A310 in 1996 from Reims, as well as Pope Benedict XVI in 2008 aboard an Airbus A321.
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