IMAGES: How €100m revamp is set to give Bordeaux airport a new look
Venue said to be ‘making efforts’ after years of low rankings based on Google reviews
The €100m revamp of Bordeaux airport (top right) will add a new 3,000m2 passenger area with shops, cafes and seating (artists impression)
enia architectes / Ivo Antonie de Rooij / Shutterstock
Major building and renovation work costing €100 million is to begin at Bordeaux airport in October, after it was dubbed ‘worst airport in Europe’ in 2022 and 2023 based on reviews of its online ratings.
This comes as the same rankings, published by German travel website Holidu, placed the airport second to last this year.
Holidu looked at the 100 busiest airports in Europe and ranked them by the average of their Google user ratings from one to five with priority – for those with the same score – to those with most ratings.
The site noted the “slight improvement”, based on an overall Google Maps score of 2.8 at the time it compiled its data, stating that it “seems to be making efforts to improve the quality of its services”.
The new renovation scheme comes as the airport seeks to attract more higher-end airlines linked to Ryanair’s imminent departure.
It will last until 2028 and include a new 3,000m2 passenger area with shops, cafes and seating. The airport will stay open during the work.
Click to scroll through an artist’s impression of the revamped airport:
A perusal of online reviews shows why Bordeaux-Mérignac might have previously ‘won’ the ‘worst airport’ title in 2022 as well as in 2023, when the ‘best’ French airport was stated to be Nice, at number 41 (small airports with fewer than several million passengers are not included in the rankings).
As of writing, Bordeaux scores 2.9 from over 13,389 reviews, with one-star the most common – followed by five, showing that opinions are strongly divided as to its quality.
One one-star review complained: “A very small and cramped airport. No services past the security, except the duty-free and vending machines. No lounges available, except one or two airline lounges. Horribly executed security queues.”
Another said: “A terrible airport, to be avoided. One toilet, only two places where you can buy a sandwich or coffee; crowds waiting in queues, nervous staff, not enough seats at the gates, people sitting on the floor.”
One of the top five-star reviews came from a user who found it, on the contrary, “clean and smoothly-flowing inside” and appreciated the care taken by car park staff who taped up a window left open, to avoid rain getting in.
The airport has played down the significance of the rankings.
“It’s just one website doing this,” a spokesperson said. “Another website placed us as the fifth best in France.”
Have you used Bordeaux-Mérignac Airport? Do you feel that it deserves the low ranking? Let us know at feedback@connexionfrance.com
