L'Nice airport had a strategy that paid off during the Covid crisis. At a time when staff were being made redundant at many of Europe's major airports, Nice has done its utmost to retain its employees. With some success
" As soon as the crisis began, the airport management signed a long-term partial activity agreement because we had the belief that recovery would come" explains Aymeric Staubpress officer at France's second largest international airport. " It turned out to be a winning bet. Keeping our own staff meant we didn't have to recruit untrained staff. What's more, the airport provides the public and our service providers with experienced staff who knows how to react when things go wrong" he says.
Nice is not totally free of saturation at peak times. But according to Aymeric Staub, the situation is going rather well, with just occasional bottlenecks.
The airport has prepared for a sharp increase in traffic. Management reopened Terminal 1 when the summer timetable came into force at the end of March.. The terminal, which was closed for the duration of Covid, has been reopened by some of the airlines that were there before the pandemic. Long-haul carriers in particular.
The terminals have also been equipped with 3D sensors from Xovis. They can be used to assess passenger flows, detect bottlenecks and therefore send extra staff to areas where there is saturation.
Nice hopes to return this year to traffic levels close to its pre-Covid performance. Some 14.5 million passengers. Without congestion, of course!
