Orly is currently the most dynamic airport in Paris. The airport recorded 24.72 million passengers over the first three quarters of 2023. This represents an increase of 14.5% over one year. But above all, this represents an increase - albeit modest - of 0.3% compared with the same 9 months of 2019, the last year before the covid epidemic.
In September, total passenger traffic at Orly was 12.9% higher than in September 2019. By comparison, Roissy CDG is still more than 12% behind its 2019 figures...
But could this performance be undermined by the announcement of the withdrawal of Air France by 2026 ? Not so sure, if current traffic figures are anything to go by. The national airline is present at Orly to 14 destinations out of a total of some 130 towns. In addition to the three shuttle services to Marseille, Nice and Toulouse, the airline also serves Corsica (four destinations: Ajaccio, Bastia, Calvi and Figari), Cayenne, Fort-de-France, Pointe-à-Pitre and Saint-Denis de la Réunion, as well as the three capitals of North Africa: Algiers, Casablanca and Tunis.
Over the years, the airline has handed over a large part of its domestic network to Transavia.. The low-cost carrier has thus recovered Air France routes to Biarritz, Montpellier, Pau, Perpignan or Toulon. As well as connections to several leisure destinations in the Mediterranean basin.
All in all, Air France offers 275 weekly flights from Orly (based on Flightradar24 for the week of 19 to 25 October).
Orly-Toulouse is the most important route in terms of number of frequencies with 14 to 16 daily flights, followed by Orly-Nice with 13 to 15 daily flights and Marseille with 6 to 7 daily frequencies. Then comes Orly-Alger with 12 flights a week.
Air France's withdrawal from Orly until 2026 will mean even greater dominance by low-cost carriers. According to Union of French Airports, 57.3% of all passenger traffic at Orly will be in the hands of low-cost airlines by 2022. A total of 16.17 million. By comparison, low-cost flights generated 12.87 million passengers in 2019. This market share could reach 75% to 80% of total traffic in the future. of the hub. These figures are similar to those already achieved by low-cost carriers at Nantes or to Basel-Mulhouse. Air France seems to have opened up a boulevard at Orly for Transavia, easyJet and Vueling.
Could we eventually emulate the British Airways model?
But is this decision definitive? There is a counter-example to Air France's strategy: that adopted by British Airways in London. The British airline, which had been talking about abandoning Gatwick altogether to refocus on its Heathrow hub, has reviewed its positioning. It has finally decided to return to the UK capital's second airport in 2022..
Last year, the carrier announced its intention to double its Gatwick-based fleet.from 14 to 24 or 28 aircraft. And to significantly expand its network. This strategy has resulted in the creation of a subsidiary, BA Euroflyer. This hybrid airline model offers passengers a service similar to that of the parent company. Based at Gatwick, BA Euroflyer was already serving 40 destinations this summer.
