Le air traffic in mainland France over the first four months of the year continued to make more than respectable progress. France recorded 51.8 million passengers between January and April 2025, an increase of 5.3% compared with the same period in 2024.. It can be seen that theincrease in air taxeswhich came into effect in March, has had little impact on passenger demand for the time being.
And so, domestic traffic rose by 1.1% in April. Over the first four months, domestic routes in mainland France will have lost only 0.4% of their passengersThe number of passengers was virtually unchanged at 5.9 million.
International traffic continues to drive demand. This was displayed up 6.2% in the first four months of 2025 compared with 2024. With its 44.2 million passengersIn fact, it is 7% ahead of 2019.
The most dynamic international airlines are those to Africa (+10.9% between January and April) and towards Asia (+9.6%). While France-Asia traffic is still more than 5% down on the same period in 2019, traffic to Africa is soaring, again up 25.3% on 2019.
The insolent growth of Beauvais
Airports, Nantes, Beauvais and Marseille post the best performances with respective growth rates of 10.8%, 8.6% and 7% in passenger traffic. Beauvais recorded 70% more passenger traffic than in 2019 with its 2.1 million passengers.
As for Paris-CDG and Lyonthey record growth rates equal to or greater than 5.5% in the first four months of 2025.
On the other hand, Bordeaux pays heavily for Ryanair's departure. Passenger traffic at the Aquitaine hub falls by 12.4% between January and April. With 1.6 million passengers, Bordeaux recorded a 21% drop in passenger numbers compared with 2019.
Toulouse continues to suffer from a decline in passenger numbers to ParisHowever, losses now appear to be levelling off. The airport recorded a 0.6% drop in passenger numbers between January and April this year compared with 2024. The Paris-Toulouse line fell again, by 1.8% during the same period. The route is struggling to achieve a figure of 700,000 passengers. This is more than a third less than the figures for 2019.
