The French president, Emmanuel Macron, flanked by the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and other European leaders, nodded in approval and applauded the 40-year-old Zapata, who was referred to by astonished French TV commentators as "James Bond".
But standing in an open-top command vehicle alongside France's chief of staff General Francois Lecointre, Macron was met with some jeers and whistles from supporters of the "yellow vest" movement.
The declaration - made on the eve of France's Bastille Day national celebrations that feature a military parade down Paris's Champs-Elysees - mirrors an initiative in the United States championed by President Donald Trump.
Sunday's parade, commemorating the storming of the Bastille prison on July 14, 1789, which marked the beginning of the French Revolution, was led by a marching group waving the flags of the 10 member countries of the E2I, symbolizing European defense cooperation.
While a year ago, Donald Trump and his wife Melania were the guests of the Bastille Day parade, this July, it looks impossible due to tensions between Washington and Paris.
Former jet-skiing champion Franky Zapata, grasping a rifle in a sign of the possible military uses of his device, took to the air in a futuristic showpiece of the annual Bastille Day parade, an AFP reporter said.
Television images showed police grabbing one of the movement's leaders, Eric Drouet, as he stood peacefully on the sidelines and escorting him away.
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Standing in an open-top command auto alongside France's chief of staff General Francois Lecointre, Macron was met with some jeers and whistles from supporters of the "yellow vest" movement who have staged weekly protests against the government since last fall.
Several loud bangs were heard.
Officers attempted to disperse dozens of protesters, who chanted anti-government slogans, knocked down security barriers erected for the parade and set fire to refuse bins.
Earlier, a French police source and a court source said some 152 "yellow vest" protesters and their leaders had been detained near the Champs Elysees as they tried to stage a protest.
The Police Prefecture said on Twitter it had ordered the protesters to leave the area, or be forcibly removed.
Sunday's violence was the worst seen in central Paris since March.
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