Expansion
Toulouse in growth mode
We certainly cracked the champagne at Toulouse Blagnac. In 2017, the airport recorded one million additional passengers in a single year, representing a leap of 14.5 %. A absolute record in France. With more than 9.2 million passengers Toulouse has thus overtaken Marseille in the rankings of French airports, becoming the country's fifth largest hub. This growth has been driven by international traffic, which last year rose by 30 % to 4.5 million passengers, a surge that owes much to the low-cost airlines which now account for 41 % of traffic. Since 2017, Blagnac's success has been accompanied by work to increase the airport's capacity to 12 million passengers. The first phase was completed in April with the extension of Hall D, covering 3,000 m². Passengers were able to discover a centralised security control area leading to a new Duty Free Shop, which has doubled in size. This area now houses a corner selling regional products and an Airbus boutique.
Eventually, the retail offering will include 17 shopscompared with the current 10. This improvement also applies to the restaurant sector, with new international and French quality brands. In terms of infrastructure, a 2,500 m² boarding pier dedicated to low-cost and regional airlines opened this summer. Finally, the year will close with the opening of a four-star hotel NH 148 rooms. Total number of rooms, 50 million euros will have been spent, with the airport's Chinese shareholders now awaiting a return on their investment...
Modernisation
A star to reconfigure Marseille Provence
Marseille-Provence airport has always been a fan of great architectural names. In the 1950s, Auguste Perret designed the first aeronautical hangars. Then, in the 60s, Fernand Pouillon designed the original terminal. More recently, Marseille called on Richard Rogers to extend terminal 1 to include halls 3 and 4. And now, the "Heart of the Terminalthe structure that will link Hall 1 to Halls 3 and 4, has been entrusted to another world star, Norman Foster. The investment of 250 million euros will enable Terminal 1 to increase its capacity to 12 million passengers per year. This core terminal will offer 15 000 m² dedicated to shops, including large rest areas and even a terrace in the boarding area with a view of the aircraft. Eventually, a pier will add the finishing touch to the structure. Opening of the "heart" in 2023 and from the pier to 2027.
Paris CDG
13 % of passengers at Roissy are confiscated an object that is prohibited in the cabin. Hence the idea of Paris Airport to offer a storage service for these objects, called Tripperty and has been present since early 2018 in 2E terminals (halls L and M) and 2F from Paris CDG. Passengers can ask for their belongings to be held or forwarded by parcel post. This initiative could be extended to other airports.
Basel-Mulhouse
That made at least fifteen years that the possibility of integrating the bi-national Basel-Mulhouse airport into the rail network by means of a dedicated station is at the planning stage. An agreement was signed at the end of 2017 to link the airport to the TER and S-Bahn networks of Mulhouse and Basel, as well as directly to Strasbourg and Colmar. A little patience, however, as the link will not be operational until... 2025 !
