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New airline L'Avion offers Paris-NY with French frills

A new low-cost, high-frills French airline entered the cutthroat transatlantic market on Friday with an all-business class service aimed at cost-conscious "Paryorkers". The made-up catchword, derived from Paris and New York, is the slogan for a daily round-trip service between the two cities to be operated by start-up airline L'Avion from December 27. The airline began taking reservations on Friday and changed its brand name from Elysair after market research found, to the airline's surprise, that Americans as well as French people warmed to the simple French word for "aeroplane".

"We chose the name for its 'French touch'. We will have French cuisine and wine too," said former AOM-Air Liberte chief Marc Rochet, chief executive of L'Avion's operating company. For 1,600 euros ($2,118) roundtrip, travelers will be able to fly between Paris's second airport, Orly, and Newark, New Jersey, the second-largest intercontinental airport serving New York.

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» lavion.com

Book Review: The Story of French

The Story of French. By Jean-Benoît Nadeau and Julie Barlow. 483 pages. $25.95. St. Martin's Press.

The unique relationship between French speakers and their language is one of the grand themes in "The Story of French," a well-told, highly accessible history of the French language that leads to a spirited discussion of the prospects for French in an increasingly English-dominated world.

The authors, Jean-Benoît Nadeau and Julie Barlow, are bilingual Canadians with a sense of mission. They value French as a vehicle of expression uniting 175 million people scattered in a linguistic archipelago across several continents. They also see it as a counterweight to U.S. political and cultural power.

» Search Paris-Specific Tags: The Story of French - French Language - French Culture
» International Herald Tribune

Chirac's France 24 starts broadcasting tomorrow.

PARIS: France goes head-to-head with CNN and the BBC from Wednesday with the launch of its state-funded 24/7 news channel, part of President Jacques Chirac's efforts to make his country's voice heard.

France 24 will broadcast two channels, one in French and the other mostly in English.

"Our mission is to cover worldwide news with French eyes," CEO Alain de Pouzilhac told Associated Press Television News. He said the channel will emphasize in-depth reporting and debate, culture and "l'art de vivre" — the art of living.

The channel launches its trilingual Web site — with video on demand and content in French, English and Arabic — at a gala in Paris' Tuileries Garden on Wednesday evening. Chirac is to attend.

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» IHT