3,663,702 passengers at Bordeaux Airport

2010 marked the celebration of the centenary of aviation and also ended on an all-time record traffic figure for Bordeaux Airport: 3,663,702 passengers over the year, up almost 100,000 on the previous record in 2008 and 341,000 more than in 2009. With growth of just 2%, commercial aircraft movements did not follow the passenger curve. The launch of the billi terminal and the resulting boost to low-cost services (275,000 more passengers than in 2009), the launch of 12 new destinations within a year and almost 35% growth in international traffic all contributed to the success of Bordeaux-Mérignac, despite the crisis and a year hit by many air traffic disruptions. Bordeaux Airport outstripped the four other major regional airports in France with a net growth
of 10.3% over the year.

Fastest-growing major regional airport in France

At the end of December 2010, total passenger traffic stood at 262,847 for the month (+12.4%), making a total for the year of 3,663,702, up 10.3% on 2009: this is the strongest growth among the major regional airports in France, ahead of Nice (-2.3%, 9,587,900 passengers), Marseille (+2.8%, 7,337,900 passengers), Lyon,* and Toulouse (+1.9%, 6,324,000 passengers).

The year thus came to a close with excellent results for Bordeaux Airport, despite a difficult economic context over the last two financial years and several disruptions of air traffic in 2010: large numbers of flights were cancelled due to a dozen periods of labour disputes and bad weather, the most severe being the crisis caused by the ash cloud from Iceland’s Eyjafjöll volcano.
Compared with the growth in passenger traffic, the number of commercial AIRCRAFT MOVEMENTS increased by just 2% in 2010 and was down 15% on a decade ago, thanks to the larger capacity aircraft used in particular by low-cost companies.

* December 2010 statistics not published

International traffic almost doubled in 10 years

With 3,039,000 passengers passing through the airport in 2001, traffic at Bordeaux Airport over the decade 2001-2010 was disrupted in the years following the events of 9/11. The passenger traffic once again moved over the 3 million mark in 2005 before heading for its all-time record at the end of 2010, with 3,663,702 passengers. While domestic traffic has remained at a constant level, with 2,264,000 passengers (-0.5% over the decade as growth on regional lines offset the decline on Paris Orly), international traffic has almost doubled in ten years, from 747,000 passengers in 2001 to 1,348,000 in 2010. This growth has been consistent, and over the two summer months of 2010, it even drove international traffic volumes (368,500 passengers) above those on domestic flights (367,000) for the first time in the airport’s history.

Of the 12 NEW ROUTES in 2010, 11 were international (the highest number of new international routes in the last ten years)… and 9 were operated by low-cost companies.

The low-cost phenomenon has been growing strongly at Bordeaux-Mérignac Airport since 2003 (up 20% to 30% a year on average), but it really accelerated in 2010 with the opening of the new billi terminal. Since 2003 (119,000 passengers), the number of LOWCOST PASSENGERS has increased six-fold, with its share of overall traffic rising from 3% to 21%. Low-cost traffic now represents 80% of international growth at Bordeaux Airport.

Marked by such key events as the celebration of the Centenary of Aviation, including the De l’Art dans l’Air exhibition at the Airport and the Air Show on June 19 that attracted over 20,000 visitors to the adjoining Airbase 106, 2010 brought an increasingly international decade to a fitting close.
Scheduled flights: up 9.8% to 3,392,075 passengers of which 759,500 low-cost passengers … up 52%!

Scheduled flights as a whole came to 257,114 passengers in December, making 3,392,075  passengers for the year 2010, of which 1,152,434 PASSENGERS ON INTERNATIONAL FLIGHTS  (+38.6%). There were many NEW ROUTE LAUNCHES between Bordeaux and international destinations in 2010, with Malaga (Air France), Quebec (Air Transat) and for the low-cost  companies: London Gatwick, Milan (easyJet), Bologna, Cork, Porto, Edinburgh (Ryanair),  Casablanca (Jet4you), Copenhagen (Cimber Sterling) and Birmingham (Flybe).

After the launch of flights to Quebec, alongside the service to and from Montreal, which has been in operation since 2006 (Air Transat), the launch of a charter service to Punta Cana (operated by XL Airways) from December confirmed the interest of scheduled and tour operator flights in LONG-HAUL FLIGHTS out of Bordeaux. This is supported by the recent announcement by Air Austral of a flight to Saint-Denis de la Réunion from February 2011.

Paris Charles-de-Gaulle (Air France) and Amsterdam (Air France KLM) handled 675,000 passengers, confirming their status as major international hubs.

The new billi low-cost terminal, the first of its kind in France, opened at the end of May 2010 and was in full swing by the second half of the year, hitting a figure of 759,500 LOW-COST  PASSENGERS FOR THE YEAR (21% OF TOTAL TRAFFIC), A SPECTACULAR LEAP OF 52% and 275,500 passengers more than in 2009 (484,000 passengers).

All the international destinations with TWO COMPETING AIRLINES saw their traffic grow strongly: +21% for Geneva (Baboo and easyJet), +52.1% for London Gatwick (British Airways and easyJet), +66% for Casablanca (Royal Air Maroc and Jet4You).

DOMESTIC TRAFFIC held up in 2010 at 2,263,983 passengers. Among the destinations in France, the Paris airports of Orly and Charles de Gaulle remain out in front in terms of passenger numbers: 1,408,000. This was followed by Bordeaux-Lyon (Air France and easyJet), down 2.7% with 419,050 passengers. Although they did not quite offset the decline on other routes, services such as Marseille, Nice, Rennes and Lille all recorded good figures. Bordeaux-Dijon, the year’s only new domestic destination, transported 3,843 passengers in the first months of operation since its launch at the end of September.

Holiday flight passengers up 15%

CHARTER activity clocked up 220,366 passengers in 2010, confirming the status of North Africa and the Mediterranean as the favourite holiday destinations from Bordeaux. With Taba in Egypt, Marmara attracted over 7,400 tourists. Fram, meanwhile, drew close to 5,000 passengers for its tourist flights to and from Corfu. A few hundred passengers made the most of the first flights to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic, which only started on 17 December.

The tour operator landscape shifted slightly in 2010: behind Marmara (TUI Group) and Fram, the two sector heavyweights, Vacances Air Transat (including Benett and Look Voyages), Nouvelles Frontières (TUI Group) and Thomas Cook (including Jet Tours) all gained ground, taking a growing share in seat capacities on Bordeaux flights. Visits to the new www.bordeaux.aeroport.fr website up 81% A showcase for Bordeaux as a destination, an online sales site for flights and packages from Bordeaux, a one-stop shop for all the service information travellers need, plus a
real-time display of flight arrivals and departures… the Airport’s new website was launched in 2009 and saw its traffic grow strongly in 2010: 1,430,000 visits (119,000 a month on average), up 81% on 2009, and 971,300 unique visitors, up 87%.