PARIS: Two giant pandas flew home from France to China for retirement on Tuesday, after the female was diagnosed with kidney failure, with a Chinese official pledging new bears would soon replace them.

Huan Huan and her partner Yuan Zi arrived at the Beauval Zoo in central France in 2012 as part of China`s `panda diplomacy` programme, which sees the black-and-white bears dispatched across the globe as soft-power ambassadors.

The two pandas, both 17, were meant to stay in France until January 2027, but they left in a plane on Tuesday to live out their retirement at China`s Chengdu panda sanctuary.

The pair were loaded onto a plane at Paris`s Charles de Gaulle airport, each in their own box dotted with ventilation holes, with the words `Bon voyage` inscribed on the side.

Before they departed, a Chinese embassy official promised new bears would soon be dispatched to make up for the popular pair leaving.

`Rest assured, French friends, new giant pandas will arrive in the future,` said Chinese embassy official Chen Dong.

More than 200 weII-wishers had braved the cold and rain on Sunday to say farewell, including one couple dressed head-to-toe in panda-themed gear, who say they have visited the bears `more than a thousand times` since their arrival in 2012.

Patrice Colombel, an electronics technician, and his wife Veronique, an administrative assistant at a secondary school, said they would not have missed the chance to see them off. -AFP