Air France Hop

An Embraer in Air France colors taxis to the runway in Frankfurt or Hamburg – and the tracker says not AFR but HOP. That is exactly the moment that makes Air France Hop interesting for spotters. Behind the unassuming abbreviation is Air France’s regional subsidiary, which was formed in 2013 from three independent airlines and has shrunk in a few years from a colorful mix of types to a pure E-Jet fleet. This page shows you where Hop comes from, what flies today and how to assign the aircraft correctly.

Air France Hop at a glance

Air France Hop is the regional airline of Air France. It flies feeder and direct routes within France and to other European countries, mainly around the hubs Paris Charles de Gaulle and Lyon Saint-Exupéry. Its headquarters is in Bouguenais, right at Nantes Atlantique Airport – a legacy of its predecessor Régional.

The name has changed several times in a short period. The airline launched on March 31, 2013, as HOP!, with an exclamation mark and its own livery. Later it operated as HOP! Air France, and since February 2019 it has been called Air France Hop. In corporate terms it belongs to the Air France-KLM group and thus flies within the SkyTeam alliance.

One thing matters most to you as a spotter: since September 2019, Hop no longer sells flights of its own. Everything runs under the Air France flight number. You only see the difference in the aircraft type and on the tracker.

Codes and callsign

• IATA code A5: originally belonged to Airlinair and later passed to HOP!. Because Hop has used only AF flight numbers since 2019, A5 practically no longer appears on departure boards.
• ICAO code HOP: appears in the air traffic control flight plan and thus on many flight trackers. This is your most reliable hint that the parent itself is not flying.
• Callsign: English- and German-language reference sources list “AIR HOP,” while French Wikipedia gives “AIR FRANCE.” When in doubt, listen to the radio yourself – the information is not consistent.

Three airlines, one brand: the predecessors

Hop is not a new founding in the classic sense. In 2013, Air France combined three regional subsidiaries that had previously operated independently under their own names and with their own fleets. Together they brought around 100 aircraft into the new brand. Each of the three had a clear type profile – and that is exactly what makes old photos so exciting today.

Predecessor	Base	Codes	Typical aircraft type	Brief profile
Brit Air	Morlaix (Brittany)	DB / BZH	Bombardier CRJ	Founded in 1973 as an air taxi operator, majority-owned by Air France since 2000, launch customer of the CRJ700 and CRJ1000
Régional	Bouguenais near Nantes	YS / RAE	Embraer ERJ 145, E170, E190	Formed in 2001 from Flandre Air, Proteus Airlines and Regional Airlines
Airlinair	Rungis near Paris	A5 / RLA	ATR 42 and ATR 72	Founded in 1999, fully taken over by Air France at the end of 2012

Brit Air: the CRJ specialist

Brit Air was the oldest of the three companies. Started in Brittany in 1973 as a small air taxi business, it grew into an important regional airline with bases in Brest, Nantes, Lyon and at both Paris airports, among others. For spotters, Brit Air is interesting mainly as a Bombardier customer: the airline was launch customer of the CRJ700 and in December 2010 also took delivery of the first CRJ1000. These aircraft shaped the first Hop years.

Régional: the Embraer airline from Nantes

Régional was formed in 2001 from the merger of Flandre Air, Proteus Airlines and Regional Airlines and was based in Bouguenais near Nantes – where Air France Hop is headquartered today as well. In March 2013 it contributed 49 jets: Embraer ERJ 145 as well as the larger E170 and E190. Before that, Régional had also operated types such as the Saab 2000, Fokker 100 and the EMB 120 Brasilia. The current Hop fleet thus goes back at its core to Régional.

Airlinair: the ATR fleet

Airlinair was founded in 1999 and flew exclusively ATR turboprops. At the launch of HOP! in March 2013, the fleet consisted of 25 aircraft according to French Wikipedia: ATR 42-300, ATR 42-500, ATR 72-200 and ATR 72-500. At the end of 2012, Air France had taken over the remaining shares from the founder. The IATA code A5 also comes from Airlinair.

From HOP! to Air France Hop

The first years were marked by growing together. Legally, the three companies initially remained independent and merely flew under the shared brand. In July 2015, Air France-KLM announced it would fully merge the brands under HOP! by 2017. The goal was clear: cut costs and make regional traffic more efficient.

The second big turn came in 2019. Air France pulled the subsidiary closer to its own brand: HOP! became Air France Hop, from September 1, 2019, all flights ran under the AF code, and the aircraft gradually received a livery in the style of the parent. For passengers, Hop was thus barely recognizable as a separate airline anymore.

Restructuring from 2020

The pandemic brought a deep cut. In August 2020, the airline announced a social plan that provided for closing the sites at Morlaix, Orly and Lille and cutting around 1,000 jobs – a good 40 percent of the workforce. At the end of 2020, the business model was then reshaped: as a smaller feeder, Hop concentrated on Paris CDG and Lyon, and domestic traffic from Paris Orly went to the group sister Transavia France. The CRJ fleet was retired, and the fleet was reduced to the two Embraer types. According to French Wikipedia, Hop still employed around 1,400 people in 2023.

The fleet today: Embraer only

Since December 2022, Air France Hop has flown only regional jets from Embraer. The exact numbers vary slightly by source and cutoff date; the following figures are based on the Wikipedia fleet lists as of 2026.

Type	Number (approx.)	Seats	Engine	Spotter tip
Embraer E170	10–11	76	GE CF34-8E	Shorter fuselage, oldest aircraft in the fleet
Embraer E190	26–28	around 100	GE CF34-10E	Larger part of the fleet, supplemented with used aircraft in 2023–2025

Remarkably, while many airlines are giving up their first-generation E-Jets, between July 2023 and the end of 2025 Hop still took over several used E190s, including F-HBLV, F-HBLX, F-HBLY, F-HBLZ, F-HBQA, F-HBQB, F-HBQC and F-HBQE. At the same time, the oldest E170s are gradually leaving – in August 2025, for example, F-HBXM. According to German-language Wikipedia, the fleet’s average age is around 14 years.

Whether it is an E170 or an E190, you recognize fastest by the fuselage length and the number of windows between the door and the wing. The details are explained in the guide Telling the Embraer E170, E175, E190 and E195 apart.

Retired types: CRJ, ATR and ERJ

If you sort older Hop photos, you run into considerably more types. The fleet history reflects the three predecessors:

• ATR 42 and ATR 72: the turboprops from the Airlinair legacy were phased out step by step from the end of 2018; the last ATR 72-600s left Hop in February 2020.
• Embraer ERJ 145: grounded with immediate effect in May 2020; before that, Régional also flew the shorter ERJ 135.
• CRJ100, CRJ700 and CRJ1000: the Bombardier jets from the Brit Air legacy. The last CRJ1000 left the fleet in December 2022.

The CRJ1000 in particular is a small special feature: Brit Air was launch customer of this stretched version, and the very first HOP! flight also took off with a CRJ1000. The manufacturer was Bombardier. How to tell CRJs and E-Jets apart in the field – rear-mounted engines on the CRJ, engines under the wing on the Embraer – is explained in the article Recognizing regional jets.

How to recognize Air France Hop

Since the renaming, Hop looks close to the parent: white fuselage, Air France titles, the familiar tail. That makes the livery alone no longer a reliable distinguishing feature. The aircraft type is much more reliable. Air France itself flies Airbus types on its short- and medium-haul network, but no E-Jets. So if you see an Embraer in Air France colors, it is very likely Hop.

The second proof comes from the registration. Hop aircraft are registered in France and carry an F-H… registration. How to read registrations in general is explained in the guide Understanding aircraft registrations.

Spotting Air France Hop

The most important places for Hop sightings are the two hubs. At Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, Hop flies feeders from France and Europe into Air France’s long-haul network; you can find tips on locations in the spotting guide for Paris CDG. Lyon Airport is the second base – here you have a good chance of seeing several Hop E-Jets in one day.

Hop is also active in Germany. Depending on the schedule, Hop Embraers fly connections between major German airports and Paris or Lyon; Berlin, Hamburg, Frankfurt and Stuttgart are named, among others. Because Air France switches between its own Airbuses and Hop jets depending on demand, it is worth checking the tracker before every trip.

Hop in French regional traffic

Hop stands at the end of a long line of French regional airlines. Many former names are only historical today: Air Littoral from Montpellier, Brit Air or Régional itself. Other companies such as CityJet, which at times also belonged to the Air France orbit, continued their path outside the group. The article Regional airlines in Europe gives an overview of the scene.

Common mix-ups

• Taking Hop for Air France – the flight number is AF, but the operating airline is Hop. Type and ICAO code decide.
• Considering every Air France Embraer a mistake – Air France itself flies no E-Jets, Hop does.
• Confusing KLM Cityhopper and Hop – both fly Embraers, but in different colors and with PH or F registrations respectively.
• Logging old CRJ or ATR photos as a current sighting – these types have been history at Hop since 2020 and 2022 respectively.
• Confusing the E170 and E190 – the difference in fuselage length is clear when you compare windows and proportions.
• Listing HOP! and Air France Hop as two airlines – it is the same company with a new name.

Conclusion

Air France Hop is an airline that is easy to overlook: Air France flight number, Air France livery – and yet a separate company with its own history. Formed from Brit Air, Régional and Airlinair, it has evolved from a mix of ATR, CRJ and Embraer into a pure E-Jet operator. If you watch the type and check the ICAO code HOP on the tracker, you assign every sighting correctly – and if you have old photos with the CRJ1000 or ATR in your archive, you own a piece of French regional aviation.