It's set to be another record-breaking year for the airport. Marseille Provencewith the launch or confirmation of new air routes. The southern French hub is now France's sixth-largest airport, with 9.02 million passengers last year (+6.2%), including 5.3 million on international routes (+9%). International routes now account for 60% of Marseille's traffic, making it an increasingly attractive option for European airlines.
Starting with Volotea. Specialising in routes to secondary cities, the Spanish low-cost carrier has decided to base two aircraft Boeing 717 in Marseille to operate a network of 19 linesThis represents an offer of more than 286,000 seatsThis represents an increase of 56% over the previous year. While the airline offers several holiday routes during the summer - notably to Greece and Spain - it is also launching two domestic routes: Marseille-Biarritz and Marseille-Caen. These two routes are operated twice a week until the end of October. The airline also offers routes to Prague, Vienna, Rennes, Strasbourg, Naples and Venice among its 19 destinations.
While the opening of a Volotea base is a major event for Marseille, other airlines are also demonstrating the importance of the Phocaean city in the network. The Lufthansa group, for example, has launched a third daily frequency on Frankfurt and reopened with its subsidiary Swiss a direct link to Zurich three times a week. More good news: Aigle Azur which offers a new line on Beirut to two flights a week (from 12 June) and is increasing the number of frequencies to Dakar.
Until the end of October, Hop/Air France is also offering flights on Athens (one to three connections per week), Beirut (three flights a week), Caen (four weekly flights) and Metz/Nancy (4 weekly flights). Finally, the new Air Austral from Marseille to La Réunionlaunched this winter, is annualised. The company offers two frequencies per week. Turkish Airlines is also ramping up. The carrier is offering four additional weekly flights to its Istanbul hubThis means two flights a day until the end of September.
Finally, the low-cost Ryanair has launched two weekly flights to Krakow and three weekly flights to Frankfurt. This winter it plans to open three new routes to Bucharest, Budapest and Faro. These routes will be served with two weekly flights each.
