A Historic record for French airports. These are the findings of the French Civil Aviation Authority (DGAC), reflecting an unprecedented level of passenger activity: 172.5 million passengersThis represents growth of 5.2% in 2018 - and even more than 5.3% if only the mainland airports are taken into account. Many regional airports reached historic milestones. For the first time, Lyon passed the 11 million passenger mark, Basel/Mulhouse the eight million, Nantes the six million and finally Lille with more than two million passengers.
In general, the international traffic traffic continues to grow faster than domestic traffic, up 3.4% or 33.3 million passengers, competition from the LGV on Bordeaux which continues to depress traffic on the Paris-Great South-West route. International traffic was up by 5.7%, with the strongest growth rates in the Americas (+9% for the United States, +11% for Canada and 12.4% for Brazil). The Asia-Pacific region posted a handsome increase of 6.6%, including 4.8% for China.
Strong rises in the West and East
The data published by the DGAC also show that the strongest growth was recorded in the west and east of France. Rennes saw one of the strongest growth rates in the country, with passenger traffic up 18.3% or 0.86 million passengers. The opening of an easyJet route to Lyon was particularly beneficial for the hub, which will see the addition of a fifth weekly frequency to Lyon this spring, as well as the launch of a route to Nice. With double-digit growth (+13%), Nantes continued its remarkable growth last year, reaching over 6.2 million passengers. And 2019 looks set to be an excellent year, witheasyJet - again - will be opening a base this spring and plans to launch almost a dozen new routes, including to Bilbao, Copenhagen and Rome. Ryanair is not to be outdone, with new routes to Bordeaux, Malta and Naples.
Another fast-growing airport, Bordeaux continues to set new records. The hub is now flirting with the seven million passenger mark, thanks to growth of 9.4%. Bordeaux should repeat this feat in 2019, with the launch of new routes on Montréal with Air Canada, Helsinki with Finnair and Porto with Easyjet.
Toulouse saw a slight slowdown in growth last year. Nevertheless, the airport is the fifth largest in France, with 9.6 million passengers, an increase of 3.9%. The detailed figures reveal a major change: for the first time in the airport's history, the international traffic (+7.1 %) is in the majority on the platform.
In the east of the region, growth is also strong. A StrasbourgThe airport recorded growth of 7.4% to reach 1.3 million passengers. This year, the Alsace hub will see the inauguration of Twin Jet flights to Lille (on 26 February) and Milan Malpensa (on 4 April). Basel-Mulhouse set a new record by exceeding the eight million passenger mark for the first time (8.6 million), an increase of 8.7% compared with 2017. The nine-million mark is expected to be reached in 2019, forcing the airport to rethink the layout of its terminal before an expansion scheduled for 2022. New services include the launch of a regular service from TAP Portugal to Lisbon.
Nice slowing down, Lyon picking up the pace
Nice has confirmed its position as France's third-largest airport behind Paris-Roissy and Orly, with 13.85 million passengers, but the gap with Lyon is narrowing. Passenger traffic at Nice grew by just 4.1% last year, while Lyon, with 11.04 million passengers, saw an increase of 7.4%. This summer, Lyon will be linked for the first time to Beirut with Transavia. Also in the south, traffic rose by 4.8% in Marseille, with 9.4 million passengers, while Montpellier saw a very slight increase of 1.7% with 1.88 million passengers. Marseille should see its growth accelerate with the announcement that Ryanair is to reopen a base with two aircraft stationed in the city.
Finally, the Paris airports topped the 100 million passenger mark last year, handling exactly 105.3 million passengers. This represents lower growth than the average for French airports: 3.8%. Roissy CDG, Air France-KLM's hub, saw more sustained growth than Orly, with a 4% increase in traffic, equivalent to 72.2 million passengers. Orly welcomed 33.1 million passengers, an increase of 3.1% compared with 2017. If we add the 3.8 million passengers at Beauvais, Greater Paris will have seen 108 million passengers, equivalent to 62.6% of air traffic for the whole of France. Visit Paris' domination remains absolute...
