French bee

French bee is an airline you don’t see by accident. It flies no short-haul routes, no destinations in Germany and only a single aircraft type. That is exactly what makes it appealing for spotters: The whole fleet consists of six Airbus A350s, and if you want to collect French bee, you can actually tick the airline off completely. This page shows you how to recognize French bee, how to tell the two A350 versions apart and where you can see the airline in the first place.

French bee at a glance

French bee is a French low-cost airline for long-haul routes. It belongs to Groupe Dubreuil, a family business from the Vendée that also owns Air Caraïbes. That is why French bee is headquartered not in Paris but in Bellevigny, in the parent company’s offices. All flying, however, is done exclusively from Paris Orly.

The impetus came in 2015: After a planned takeover of Corsair failed, Groupe Dubreuil built its own long-haul airline with low base fares. It was presented as French Blue in March 2016, and on September 10, 2016, the first flight took off from Orly to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic – still with an Airbus A330-300 back then. La Réunion joined the network in June 2017, and the first A350-900 in August 2017.

You know the principle from Ryanair on short-haul routes, only across the ocean: The base fare includes the seat, and for baggage, meals, seat selection or Wi-Fi you pay extra depending on the fare. On board there are two cabins, Premium and Economy. French bee belongs to no alliance.

From French Blue to French bee

The name has a small backstory that matters to spotters. When the airline applied for traffic rights to the US, the American airline JetBlue took issue with the word “Blue.” The renaming to French bee followed in January 2018. Shortly after, in May 2018, the connection via San Francisco to Papeete on Tahiti began.

For your archive, that means photos from 2016 and 2017 still show the French Blue titles. If you are sorting old pictures or searching databases for sightings, both names belong to the same airline. The A330-300 from the early days (F-HPUJ) went to Air Caraïbes in 2019 – since then French bee has flown only A350s.

Codes and callsign

• IATA code BF: appears in the flight number, on the departure board and on the ticket.
• ICAO code FBU: appears in the air traffic control flight plan and on flight trackers.
• Callsign FRENCH BEE: this is how the crew identifies itself on the radio.

The difference between flight number and callsign often causes confusion, especially with smaller airlines. How the two relate is explained in the article Callsign and flight number; the system behind the codes is covered in IATA and ICAO codes explained.

The fleet: Airbus A350s only

French bee relies completely on the Airbus A350, powered by Trent XWB engines from Rolls-Royce. As of 2026, the fleet looks like this:

Type	Number	Seats	Registrations	Spotter tip
Airbus A350-900	4	411 (35 Premium, 376 Economy)	F-HREU, F-HREV, F-HREY, F-HREN	The workhorse, used on La Réunion among other routes
Airbus A350-1000	2	480 (40 Premium, 440 Economy)	F-HMIX, F-HMIB	The rare subjects; in the fleet since 2021
Airbus A330-300	formerly 1	–	F-HPUJ	2016–2019, now with Air Caraïbes

French bee took delivery of its first A350-1000 in December 2021. With 480 seats, it is one of the most densely seated examples of this type. In Economy, most rows are laid out 3-4-3, so ten seats abreast. In the Premium cabin, there are seven seats per row on the A350-900 (2-3-2) and eight on the A350-1000 (2-4-2).

The registration list is a snapshot, not a guarantee: Aircraft can be swapped, leased or added. So always check the registration against the current tracker when spotting. How French registrations are structured is explained in the guide Understanding aircraft registrations.

A350-900 or A350-1000? How to tell them apart

Both versions wear the same livery and the same distinctive cockpit front with the dark “mask” around the windows. At first glance they look identical. Three features help you anyway.

The landing gear is the surest feature, especially on landings when the wheels are clearly visible. From a long distance or in the climb, the tracker code helps instead. You can find more on type identification in general under Identifying aircraft types for beginners.

How to recognize French bee

The livery uses a mostly white fuselage with the “french bee” titles and a tail in shades of blue. Because the fleet consists only of A350s, the combination of type, titles and French F- registration is unambiguous. A second look is still worthwhile, because at Orly French bee often parks next to airlines with a similar profile.

Routes and network

French bee serves few but long routes. As of fall 2026, they include:

• Saint-Denis on La Réunion – the historic core market, with up to 14 flights a week in winter 2025/26.
• Newark near New York – since July 2021.
• Miami – since December 2022.
• Montreal – since April 2025.
• San Francisco and Papeete (Tahiti) – as a combined connection, since May 2018.

Los Angeles has been served seasonally since 2022 and does not appear in every seasonal schedule. For winter 2026/27, French bee has also announced a seasonal connection via Malé in the Maldives to Colombo in Sri Lanka, from December 19, 2026, with A350-900s and subject to regulatory approval. The network changes every season – so always plan with the current schedule.

French bee wrote a piece of aviation history in May 2020: During the pandemic, an A350 flew nonstop from Papeete to Paris Orly. Because French Polynesia belongs to France, the flight counted as a domestic flight – at roughly 15,700 kilometers of great-circle distance the longest ever operated up to that point.

Spotting French bee: where and when

The honest answer first: In Germany, you will practically never see French bee in scheduled service. The airline flies long-haul only from Orly and has no destinations in Germany. Your chances lie elsewhere.

Paris Orly is the most important place. Note that Orly is not Paris Charles de Gaulle – if you go to CDG, you see Air France in masses there, but no French bee. Departure and arrival times differ by route and season, so check the schedule or the tracker before your visit. Also check whether an A350-1000 is on the rotation if you are specifically looking for the rare version.

When traveling, you can catch French bee at the destination airports, such as Newark, Miami, Montreal or San Francisco. If Los Angeles is in the current schedule, classic spots like In-N-Out Burger or Imperial Hill are worth a try. The bucket list of spotting spots worldwide collects more ideas for long trips.

Big A350s are rewarding subjects but need room in the frame. The guide to the right lens explains which focal length fills the frame. For the right light, the article on the sun position at the photo spot helps.

French bee in the French market

France has several airlines with long-haul service from Paris. Air France, a network carrier within the Air France-KLM group, dominates at CDG, while Corsair and Air Caraïbes, like French bee, fly mainly to the overseas territories from Orly. On La Réunion, French bee competes directly with Corsair, Air France and Air Austral. The group leaves short-haul from Orly to others; there you meet Transavia France, among others.

By comparison with Germany: A low-cost model on long-haul does not exist in this form there. The closest is the leisure airline Condor, which also offers long-haul at low prices but has a more traditional product.

Common mix-ups

• Confusing French bee with Air Caraïbes – both belong to Groupe Dubreuil and fly A350s from Orly. The titles decide.
• Taking French Blue for a different airline – that is French bee’s former name, valid until January 2018.
• Equating the A350-900 and A350-1000 – count the wheels on the main gear: four or six.
• Looking for French bee at CDG – all flights run through Paris Orly.
• Thinking French bee is a short-haul airline – it flies long-haul only.
• Still expecting the A330 from the early days – F-HPUJ has flown for Air Caraïbes since 2019.

Conclusion

French bee is the opposite of an everyday sighting: few aircraft, a single base, long-haul only. If you stand at Orly or at one of the destination airports, you have good chances of an A350 with the “french bee” titles. With six aircraft, the fleet is small enough to collect completely – and the two A350-1000s are the crowning touch.