Councillors in Normandy, which has three council-funded airports within 30km of each other, say municipal contributions – at €50 per passenger last year – would be better spent on improving rail links to Paris.
An annual report on France’s airports, produced by the Conseil supérieur de l’aviation civile (CSAC), was last published in 2012 before being cancelled by the then-socialist government due to its cost.
It made a clear distinction between airports which have more than 400,000 passengers a year and those which do not.
A conference in 2017, organised by CSAC, suggested airports with fewer than 200,000 passengers a year can never be profitable and those with under 500,000 passengers will often struggle to be out of the red.
Bergerac airport had around 300,000 passengers last year, up from 200,000 in 2014.
Justine Quetier, who has a public mission to promote the heritage of the Dordogne valley, presented a paper on the importance of Bergerac airport at the 2017 conference.
“The airport made a conscious decision to attract low-cost airlines, which has a big impact on tourism,” she told Connexion.
She said studies had shown that Bordeaux, the nearest big airport, was not popular with tourists who wanted to go inland to the Dordogne valley.
“The queues at car rentals, the traffic jams on the ring road, and the 100km or so that separate Bergerac from Bordeaux were reasons given for preferring Bergerac,” she said.
She added that tourist traffic can be fickle, with events such as the economic crisis, Brexit or now activists against climate change wanting fewer flights, all having the potential to reduce numbers suddenly
“It is important that airports diversify and do not put all their eggs in the one basket.”
No one at Bergerac airport was willing to talk on the topic.
“We have justified our existence often enough,” a spokesman said, directing Connexion to a 2015 CCI Dordogne report.
It showed the airport then had 281,456 passengers, 214,101 of whom came from the UK, and created an estimated €153million of value for the area.
La Rochelle –Ile de Ré airport was happy to discuss its situation directly. It had 240,154 passengers in 2018, up 8.4% on 2017, and served 14 routes with five airlines using it regularly.
“We play a significant role in opening up the territory,” said Christine Vigneron, in charge of developing routes there.
“Our data on tourists and others using low-cost airlines shows that in 2018, €35million was spent locally by them.
“The public service obligation route between La Rochelle and Lyon was recognised by the EU as being vital to the local economy. We also serve the more frequented areas of the Atlantic coast for overnight tourist stays.”
EU public service obligation routes allow governments to subsidise air routes judged to be of economic importance when no airline is prepared to guarantee the route without subsidy.
The airport is now owned by a syndicate made up of the Nouvelle Aquitaine region and Charente-Maritime department, other local bodies and the local chamber of commerce.
“This shows the importance of the airport. The air links are necessary,” said Ms Vigneron.
The statutes of the syndicate state that the main role of the airport is not to make profit but to contribute to the opening up of the Charente-Maritime and its tourism. Ms Vigneron also pointed to the airport’s import-ance with navy helicopters and civil security using it.
Opposition to the airport comes mainly from the far-left La France Insoumise. Activist Eric Durand said the public purse contributed €2.2million (€10 per passenger) in 2015.
For the same year, Poitiers had €2.1million in public funding for 122,947 passengers (€17 per passenger); Limoges (where a new terminal was built) received €7.5million for 292,607 passengers (€25 for each one); and Angoulême €800,000 for 2,443 passengers (€327 per passenger).
“With all urban codes being rewritten to take account of efforts to reduce climate change, there is no sense supporting air travel, especially as all efforts to tax kerosene have been blocked,” said Mr Durand.
“Provincial airports are mainly used by the rich to let them nip up to Paris or their tax havens in comfort, while the poor pay for the subsidies.”
Meanwhile, a group of MPs, citing environmental reasons, have submitted a draft law calling for a ban on internal flights in France between airports where alternative reasonable rail links exist.
Up to half of all internal flights could be axed if the law – up for debate later this year – is adopted. The bill was drafted after its inclusion as an amendment to the Loi d’orientation des mobilités was rejected.
