Air traffic is depressed at Nice, France's second busiest airport after Paris with just over 12 million passengers a year. This summer, the Côte d'Azur hub will be linked to 107 destinations in 37 by 62 airlines.
Between January and July, Nice recorded growth of 4.7%, with more than 7.2 million passengers (+3.2% for July 2016 alone compared with July 2015). However, since the attack on 14 July, the airport has experienced a fall in demandAccording to an analysis of bookings published by ForwardKeys, a consultancy firm. According to the analysis based on the status of bookings across several service providers, the decline over the period 14 to 23 July was 57% although it was already marking time before the attack (-2.6%).
In fact, the attack accelerated a trend that had been visible for several months
This trend seemed to be confirmed at the end of July. Bookings to France and Nice were down by 20% and 19% respectively during August and September, compared with the same months in 2015. The attack actually accelerated a trend that has been visible for several months. ForwardKeys points out that the number of bookings was already on a negative trend before the attack. The consultancy says bookings for August and September were already down on the same period in 2015, at 14% for Nice and 16% for destination France.
While traffic at Nice airport has managed to maintain its growth for the time being, with an increase of +4.7% between January and July, it is the traffic at Roissy that probably gives a good indication of the trend. France's main airport recorded a fall in traffic of 0.2% over the first seven months, including a drop in passenger numbers of 3.9% in June and 1% in July.
The Paris airport, Air France's central hub, remains affected by the twin attacks in Paris and Brussels, and is now likely to suffer the after-effects of the Nice attack. The Côte d'Azur hub is likely to experience similar developments to Paris over the coming months.
