France's major airports continued to recover in 2023According to the first figures published by the various hub managers in France, the number of passengers at airports in France has risen by more than 10% in recent years. However, some airports continue to post lower performance than in 2019. This is the case at Paris-CDG, Lyon and Toulouse. But others, such as Beauvais, Marseille, Nice and Paris-Orly have all managed to exceed their pre-Covid.
First of all, the capital's airports. The firstADP reports that total traffic is flirting with the 100 million passengers a year. The two Paris hubs of CDG and Orly recorded exactly 99.715 million passengers. The strikes that affected the airports on several occasions during the year meant that ADP missed the symbolic 100 million mark.
CDG handled 67.42 million passengers, an increase of 17.3% compared with 2022.. But this result is still 11.5% below the total passenger figure for 2019. Orly recorded 32.29 million passengers, an increase of 10.6% compared with 2022.. However, the southern Paris hub exceeded its 2019 traffic target by 1.4%!
In detail, domestic traffic is the big loser in 2023. Passenger numbers are down by 2.6% compared with 2022. Traffic is down by a quarter since 2019. Two other segments remain weak compared with the pre-Covid period. Compared with 2019 traffic, the Other Europe" segment (which includes Russia and Ukraine) is 35% lower and the Asia-Pacific segment of more than 31%.
The markets close to or above their 2019 traffic levels are the European Union (98.7 % of the 2019 level), the French overseas departments and territories (99.0 % of 2019) and North America (100% of 2019). Last but not least, passenger traffic to Africa is now 8.5% higher than in 2019.
And yet.., the big winner in the Paris metropolitan region remains Beauvais airport. The Picardy airport was indeed a "hit". According to figures from France's civil aviation authority, the DGAC, In the first 11 months of 2023, Beauvais exceeded its 2019 passenger numbers by more than 39%.. That's over 5.1 million passengers.
Marseille shines in the south
Outside Paris, the airport with one of the strongest growth rates in France is Marseille. This confirms the airport's position as France's third-largest after Paris and Nice. By 2023, Marseille Provence (AMP) welcomed 10.8 million passengers. This is 18.1% more than in 2022, but above all an increase of 6.4 % compared with 2019.
This is a record for the platform, which will inaugurate its completely transformed terminal 1 at the end of the first half of the year.. Just in time for the Olympic Games. In 2024, AMP is expecting a new traffic record. The airport should be linked to 128 destinations in 36 countries by 34 airlines. New routes include Stockholm, Antalya, Zagreb, Wroclaw in Poland, Amman and Limoges.
NiceFrance's leading regional airport, is equally optimistic. The airport has recovered 98% of its 2019 traffic, i.e. 14.08 million passengers (see box).
Bordeaux, Lyon and Toulouse still well down on 2019
Lyon-Saint Exupéry, for its part, has seen a return to traffic of over 10 million passengers. last year. This represents an increase of 17% compared with 2022. However, attendance is still 15% below the record for 2019.
Toulouse airport traffic expected to fluctuate between 7.8 and 8 million passengers20% will be lower than in 2019, while Bordeaux set to reach 7 million passengers.
Lastly, Vinci's airports division revealed that Nantes welcomed 6.535 million passengers last year. An increase of 13% compared with 2022 and a decrease of 9.6% compared with 2019.
