French airports record an increase in passenger numbers to 4.8% in 2018, with no less than 206.4 million passengers. A top-flight result thanks in particular to low-cost airlines, according to an annual study by the Airport Union
The results show a growth of 4.8% in 2018, but which remains below the European average (+ 5.4% in the European Union), and lower than that of 2017 (+ 5.7%), according to the 2018 report prepared by the French Airports Union (UAF), also stating that passenger traffic increased from 2008 to 2018.
Between 2008 and 2018, the airports of Paris show a traffic evolution of 1.92%, the regional Grands 4.50% and the Regional 3.16%.
International traffic is the most dynamic in mainland France, with an increase of + 5.7% in 2018, while domestic traffic is up 2.4% and represents 73% of metropolitan traffic. International traffic accounts for 86% of traffic growth in 2018.
Low cost airlines push airports up
34% is the representative percentage of low-cost traffic in metropolitan total traffic and 32% represents the contribution in national traffic. As for the growth of total traffic in 2018 in France, low-cost airlines account for 66.4%.
The share of low cost traffic in the top 15 French airports is like this:
- Paris Charles de Gaulle: 14.1%
- Paris-Orly: 40.2%
- Nice Côte d’Azur: 43.8%
- Lyon Saint Exupéry: 38.6%
- Toulouse-Blagnac: 42.2%
- Marseille Provence: 31.5%
- Basel Mulhouse: 67.3%
- Bordeaux: 55.2%
- Atlantic Nantes: 56.8%
- Paris-Beauvais: 98.7%
- Lille-Lesquin: 47.0%
- Montpellier Mediterranean: 37.7%
- Ajaccio-Napoleon: 35.4%
- Bastia-Poretta: 35.8%
- Strasbourg: 42.4%
The following airports have low-cost traffic that accounts for more than 50% of total traffic:
- Bergerac Dordogne Périgord: 99.7%
- Carcassonne South of France: 99.7%
- Béziers-Cap d’Agde Hérault Occitanie: 99.3%
- Nîmes-Alès-Camargue-Cévennes: 98.8%
- Paris-Beauvais: 98.7%
An evolution of the commercial movements:
France’s airports recorded higher sales, with 1.0% for Paris airports, 1.4% for other metropolitan airports, and -4.0% for overseas airports.
The evolution between 2008 and 2018 is -0.41% for Metropolitan France, -1.09% for Overseas and a general total of -0.49%.
Freight traffic at airports in France in 2018
Freight traffic is down -2.5%, after a rise in 2017 of 3.5%.
- Paris CDG is down 1.8%
- Paris-Orly: -6.1%
- Toulouse-Blagnac: -5.7%
- Basel-Mulhouse: -2.3%
- Lyon Saint-Exupéry: 4.5%
- Marseille Provence: 1.0%
- Bordeaux: 2.1%