Air France drops Phila.-Paris flights

Air France-KLM Group will discontinue service to Paris from Philadelphia International Airport on Oct. 4, reservation agents confirmed. Delta Airlines will begin a Philadelphia-to-Paris nonstop flight the next day, Oct. 5.

Delta has a code-share and revenue-sharing agreement with Air France. The Delta flight will depart Philadelphia daily at 6:50 p.m., arriving in Paris at 8:40 a.m. the next day. The return flight will leave Paris at 10:30 a.m. daily and arrive in Philadelphia at 1 p.m., both Air France and Delta reservation agents said.

Air France, Europe's largest airline, warned today that it will post a third-quarter loss for the three months ended Dec. 31 because of the weakening economy and a "strong decline" in cargo revenue. Airlines are seeing a sharp drop in business-class and first-class travel as companies slash travel budgets or fly economy class.

Premium air travel fell globally almost 12 percent in November, on top of declines in September and October, the International Air Transport Association said Monday.