Low Cost Flights to France See Strong Growth

French airports have reported strong traffic figures for 2006, with low cost passenger numbers growing by 20%. Overall there was growth in passenger numbers of 4.5%, to give total passenger figures of 146 million. Most of this growth was a result of an increase in international passenger numbers, which grew by over 6%. The Paris airports took the lion’s share of traffic, with over 80 million passengers, followed a long way behind by Nice airport, with around 10 million passengers. Regional airports saw a growth of 4.8%, reaching 54 million passengers, and accounting for 22% of all passenger traffic in France. Most of this growth was made up by the increase in low-cost airline traffic, which grew by nearly 20% to 12 million passengers. Notably high increases occurred at La Rochelle, Bergerac, Pau, Nantes, and Carcassonne. Easyjet, in particular, is also seeking to develop an internal flight network within France, although it continues to face resistance from Air France and the French regulatory authorities. The low-cost airline from Air France, called Transavia, recently started operations out of Orly airport, with flights to a number of destinations in the Mediterranean region.