Posted on Oct 8, 2020 at 10:40 a.m.
Never have the nearby airports known such an air gap. Weighted down by the Covid-19 pandemic in the spring, last July they cashed in the drastic reduction in domestic flights provided by Hop! – the regional subsidiary of Air France.
The health crisis continues to pin down many low cost destinations to the ground; and business tourism, which represents on average a third of their activity, is struggling to take off again. The 28 metropolitan airports, welcoming less than 2 million passengers per year, already showed a slight decline in their activity at the end of 2019. This average decline of 0.8% masked a disparate reality. Béziers-Cap d’Agde saw its attendance soar by 15% while Toulon-Hyères or Grenoble fell by more than 10%. Tarbes-Lourdes-Pyrénées, Limoges, Chambéry or Strasbourg have stagnated. After three extraordinary quarters, everyone is now in the midst of a fog.
Case by case
“Containment has revived interest in medium-sized towns, but their accessibility remains an essential criterion, especially for companies. In this period of crisis, we must avoid short-term reasoning and take the time to analyze the potential and the reality of needs on a case-by-case basis ”, affirms Thomas Juin, president of the French Airports Union. The resumption of flights to vacation destinations allowed a slight summer take-off, but the fall is shaping up to be worse than expected. The fear of the Covid, a difficult economic context, environmental concerns and the entry into the customs of long-distance exchanges contribute to plummet business tourism, while quarantine measures hamper low-cost destinations which allowed somehow small airports to approach balance.
The Chambers of Commerce and Industry are gradually withdrawing from airport management, at the risk of compromising the viability of infrastructures left in the charge of bloodless communities. “Air service to medium-sized towns is essential. Otherwise, it is the economic fabric of entire territories that will disappear ”, worries Josiane Costes who wrote the report, at the end of 2019, of an information mission on air transport and regional planning. The former senator from Cantal cites the example of Aurillac, located 7 hours by train from Paris – a crippling time both for companies already established and for candidates for a location.
Organic links
At the foot of provincial tarmacs, areas of ecosystems have often been created which are directly or indirectly dependent on airport activity. In Tarbes, Daher Aerospace, which celebrated the assembly of its thousandth TBM last September, maintains organic links with the airport built in 1941 to allow the transfer of the naval aviation industry to the free zone. Specialist in aeronautical maintenance, Sabena Technics employs 2,200 people, including 650 in Dinard-Pleurtuit-Saint-Malo and 400 in Nîmes-Garons. Even when they have no connection with aeronautics, companies located in airport activity zones benefit from their good road service. Poitiers-Biard Airport thus attracted a dozen companies, while opening up not only Poitiers, but also Niort and Châtellerault. Conversely, the suspension of Lyon-Rouen or Cherbourg-Paris flights has impoverished both trade and passenger services.
Small “clean” planes
“Very useful for businesses, regular lines also meet a still very strong need for affinity, tourist or family trips. Otherwise, the existence of an airport remains essential for business aviation and on demand ”, underlines Jérôme Arnaud, CEO of Edeis Concession. Specializing in engineering and infrastructure management, Edeis employs 900 people and manages 19 airports, including two overseas. The group sees a breakthrough in the development of electric or hybrid planes, which must prove themselves in the short term on short-haul flights. Less polluting and less expensive, these “clean” planes could boost the attractiveness of small airports.
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