In recent months the Occitanie Regional Court of Auditors has published numerous reports on the complex management and the difficulties that, according to her, Nîmes – Camargue – Alès – Cévennes airport. The CRC highlights, among other things, the lack of balance between strong ambitions and lack of economic stability without public aid from the airport.
Managed by the private delegate Edeisthe latter did not want to speak about the Court’s criticisms and preferred to return to what makes the airport unique and the review of the 2023 season. “Nîmes is an ecosystem of many activities, underlinesthe airport director Grégory Merelo. With Civil Security which represents between 40 and 50% of air traffic. The second part is all that concerns aero-industrial and training activities. Finally, the third is the commercial part with a single operator, Ryannair. For the moment things are like this but this may not be the truth of tomorrow.explains the manager.
No competition between southern airports but “complementarity”
However, the position of Nîmes raises questions. He has to deal with the promiscuity of other airports, like that of Montpellier or of Marseille… But for the director, this is not a question of competition, but of complementarity. “We suit a certain clientele and not opening major routes like to Abu Dhabi for example would be of no use. Compared to Marseille we have similar lines, but for example for Edinburgh the flight times and days are not the same. For the customer living in the region, the latter is a winner because he has greater flexibility.” says Grégory Merelo.
Nîmes is aimed at travelers leaving on exclusively European destinations and an historic line towards Morocco. Lines mainly of interest to local customers. “We could say to ourselves that Montpellier will cannibalize our lines if they open the same ones, but when we look at the statistics when there is an opening, it is to respond to an increase in traffic and we therefore need to increase our capacity. There is therefore a certain complementarity.”
July and August, record months in terms of attendance at Nîmes airport
Commercial side moreover, Grégory Merelo draws up a more than positive assessment of the 2023 season which ended at the beginning of November. “We had an average load factor of 89.6%. In terms of monthly traffic, July was a record period since 2003 in terms of attendance and, in August, the record was broken again. We have not completely turned the page on Covid but the people are there and are still attached to the trip”enthuses the director of Nîmes airport.
This high attendance is closely linked to the tourism in the region. “We are a gateway to the territory. We have a large majority of entrants on our flights, for example for flights between Nîmes and Belgium almost 80% of passengers are entrants coming to visit the territory. underlines Grégory Merelo. Added to this, the mobility of students in Erasmus on the Nîmes-Dublin line for example, but also, business travelers who come to the region for the health cluster that the territory has.
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