Bordeaux Mérignac airport is awaiting a restart of its activity the last week of June – Mickaël Bosredon / 20 Minutes
- Bordeaux airport traffic fell by 80% compared to the same period in 2019.
- A rich summer program, particularly towards southern Europe, should signal the revival of activity for the Mérignac terminal.
- The airport development director does not plan to return to 2019 traffic levels for several years, but remains confident in the ability of the aviation sector to rebound in the medium term.
Ajaccio, Mallorca, Mykonos or Palermo… French airports will clearly be heading south this summer, and Bordeaux is no exception. While flights have picked up slightly in recent days, he is aiming for a significant resumption of activity from the end of June, after more than a year of disaster. 20 minutes takes stock of the situation, with the director of development Jean-Luc Poiroux.
The drop in traffic
Bordeaux-Mérignac Airport rose to 25 flights per day this week, compared to about 15 a month ago. “We have lost 80% of our traffic compared to 2019, and 50 to 60% of our turnover, because there are still commercial and estate activities that continue,” explains Jean-Luc Poiroux. It is obviously the aeronautical activity that drives the economy of the airport, so we must return to satisfactory traffic levels, even if we will not find the traffic of 2019. [qui était de 7,7 millions de voyageurs] before several years.
“The restart will be long because the Covid-19 crisis, which is global, will continue in some countries where vaccination rates will remain low, and where the circulation of the virus will therefore be quite strong, which will have an impact on flights long-haul. However, the economic activity of a city like Bordeaux is global. Resuming business travel will take longer than resuming leisure travel. “
The summer program
The actual restart of the airport is scheduled for the last week of June, then everything should accelerate in early July, with a peak expected between July 15 and August 15. “We should go up to 70-80 flights per day, twice more than in summer 2020, but well below the summer of 2019 when we were at 150”, analyzes the director of development.
The summer program will be quite extensive, with airlines mainly focusing on France and Europe, and particularly southern Europe. “All the Greek, Italian, Spanish and French islands with Corsica are acclaimed, announces Jean-Luc Poiroux. Up to 35 frequencies per week are planned for Corsica, which is historic for Bordeaux airport. We will also have two to three daily flights to Mallorca. Clearly, it will be heading south this summer, although I also recommend cities like Berlin or Amsterdam. “
The health context
The mask will remain obligatory in the halls of the airport, and in the planes. “But one of the advantages that we have in France, notes Jean-Luc Poiroux, is the free PCR and antigen test, which passengers can do at the airport, without an appointment, two to three days before taking their flight. “A test which should however prove to be less and less compulsory, as vaccination increases and the European health passport becomes generalized.
The future of air traffic
The health crisis and environmental issues vigorously pose the question of the role of the plane in the coming years. At the same time, the successive confinements arouse a real desire to travel and escape. So, what future for the plane in our travels of tomorrow? “The plane will be used less for a few years, but the need to travel will be preserved and I am convinced that in ten years the volume of air traffic will be higher than what we have known”, estimates Jean-Luc Poiroux. “The notions of sustainable development, of carbon weight, will be inscribed more and more in our cortex, he adds, and perhaps some travelers will think before taking the plane for domestic destinations, even if I am convinced that one day the airplane will be more virtuous than the train, thanks to electricity, hydrogen… ”
The consequences of the elimination of the Bordeaux-Orly shuttle
As a direct consequence of the crisis, Air France had to cut several domestic routes, in particular the one between Bordeaux and Paris-Orly, which made ten daily routes. “This represents a loss of 8% of our traffic, and 12-13% of economic activity” announces the director of development. “Because of this Bordeaux airport will take longer than the others to return to its previous traffic, whereas we were one of the airports which had grown the most in France since 2009.” Bordeaux-Mérignac planned to reach 9.6 million travelers in 2023, “which would have allowed us to step up and launch new long-haul destinations to Asia and North America. “All of this” is postponed to the 2030s. “
Airport expansion projects
To support its strong growth, Bordeaux airport had initiated an ambitious investment plan for the coming years. “Most of our projects have stopped, the most emblematic being the junction building between halls A and B,” explains Jean-Luc Poiroux. This would also have made it possible to create a large commercial center, to seek new revenue in extra-aeronautics. We were planning an investment of around 160 million euros, a large part of which in this terminal, all of this has been swept away. “
The only major investment retained was the finalization of satellite 3 in hall A, work on which had already started. “And we are redoing the forecourt of the terminals, which is linked to the arrival of the tram and the” technobus “for the end of 2022.”