Nantes Atlantique Airport
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Nantes Atlantique Airport (french: Aéroport Nantes Atlantique, formerly known as ''Aéroport Château Bougon'') is an
international airport An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries around the world. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports and they must feature longer ...
serving
Nantes Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...
, France. It is located southwest of the city, in
Bouguenais Bouguenais (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Loire-Atlantique Departments of France, department in western France near Nantes. Bouguenais is home to the Nantes Atlantique Airport. Population Economy Régional, a regional airline, w ...
. The airport is operated by the ''Chambre de commerce et d'industrie de Nantes''. In 2019, the airport handled 7,221,000 passengers, an increase of 16.6% compared to 2018.


History

Nantes airport owes its origins to a military airfield, conceived in 1928 on part of the current site. In 1936/7, the Société Nationale de Constructions Aéronautiques de l'Ouest opened an aircraft factory adjacent to the airfield, initially building MB.210 bombers, followed by M.S.406 fighters and LeO 45 bombers. In 1939, the first paved runway was constructed, with a length of . During
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, the airfield was briefly used as a
British Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
airfield before being captured by
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...
forces. Under occupation, the aircraft factory was closed, and the airfield was used by the
Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...
as an airfield to bomb targets in England. As a consequence, the airfield was hit by a damaging air raid on 4 July 1943, which also destroyed the adjoining aircraft factory. After the war, the airfield was again put into service by the
French Air Force The French Air and Space Force (AAE) (french: Armée de l'air et de l'espace, ) is the air and space force of the French Armed Forces. It was the first military aviation force in history, formed in 1909 as the , a service arm of the French Army; ...
. The aircraft factory was rebuilt, and has since built sections of the Vautour fighter and the Caravelle airliner, before becoming part of
Airbus Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European Multinational corporation, multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace manufacturer, aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft througho ...
. In 1951, the first commercial operations started, with a new terminal built between 1954 and 1960 and runway extensions to cater for larger aircraft. Nantes Atlantique is currently the largest airport in the west of France. There were plans to have it replaced by an
Aéroport du Grand Ouest The Grand Ouest Airport, or Aéroport du Grand Ouest Project was a project for a new airport, to be situated to the north-west of the French city of Nantes in the ''commune'' of Notre-Dame-des-Landes. It was intended for the new airport to replace ...
, situated to the north-west of Nantes in the 'commune' of
Notre-Dame-des-Landes Notre-Dame-des-Landes (; br, Kernitron-al-Lann) is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France located about 20 km northwest of Nantes. The commune was the planned site of the new Aéroport du Grand Ouest, intended to rep ...
. The €580 million project was approved in February 2008, with plans to open it in 2017. However, after a nearly 40-year-long controversy regarding the usefulness and impact of such an airport, the project was officially cancelled on 17 January 2018. On 19 January 2019, a 2 seater aircraft carrying Argentinian footballer Emiliano Sala left the airport for
Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
, Wales. Both Sala and the pilot died when the plane crashed in the
English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...
. Subsequent investigation showed that pilot David Ibbotson was not licensed to fly passengers, nor for night flying, and that the aircraft was not airworthy.


Facilities

The airport has a single 'L'-shaped passenger terminal, which is divided into four numbered halls. Halls 1 to 3 form the long side of the 'L' and are zones within the same two-story building, with
baggage claim 200px, Baggage carousel In airport terminals, a baggage reclaim area is an area where arriving passengers claim checked-in baggage after disembarking from an airline flight. The alternative term baggage claim is used at airports in the US and ...
and check-in facilities on the ground floor, and departure lounges on the upper level. Hall 4 occupies a later single storey building at right angles to the earlier building, but connected to it by a lobby. The airport also has a separate freight terminal, situated to the south of the passenger terminal, which includes of entrepôt storage. Also situated close to the passenger terminal is the Nantes factory of
Airbus Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European Multinational corporation, multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace manufacturer, aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft througho ...
, which specialises in the construction of the centre wing box of the Airbus fleet of airliners and in the use of
composite material A composite material (also called a composition material or shortened to composite, which is the common name) is a material which is produced from two or more constituent materials. These constituent materials have notably dissimilar chemical or ...
s for creating structural components.


Other facilities

Régional Régional was a subsidiary airline wholly owned by Air France which connected hubs at Paris, Lyon to 49 airports in Europe. The airline operated in Air France livery, retaining its name in small titles and logo on the front fuselage and engines. ...
, a
regional airline A regional airline is a general classification of airline which typically operates scheduled passenger air service, using regional aircraft, between communities lacking sufficient demand or infrastructure to attract mainline flights. In North ...
, was headquartered on the grounds of Nantes Atlantique Airport. In 2013, the airline merged into HOP!Air France Launches New Low-Cost Airline 'Hop!'
." ''
Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was estab ...
''. 26 March 2013. Retrieved on 26 April 2013.


Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Nantes Atlantique Airport:


Statistics


Ground transportation

Nantes Atlantique Airport is located just outside the ''Périphérique de Nantes'', the city's peripheral ring motorway, to which it is linked by a short access road. All the major roads and motorways to and from the city of Nantes intersect the 'périphérique'. Several car parks, both in the open and under cover, are located in the terminal area, with each car park having its own tariff. An express shuttle bus, the 'Navette Tan Air', links a stop outside the airport terminal to
Nantes station Nantes station ( French: ''Gare de Nantes'') is the principal passenger railway station serving the French city of Nantes. It is a through station aligned east–west, with entrances and station facilities on both north and south sides. The two ...
and the city centre. The service forms part of Nantes's Tan public transport network, but charges a Tan Air fare, which is higher than the standard network fare, for the full journey. Alternatively, TAN bus route 38 can be used to reach Pirmil, and TAN bus route 98 can be used to reach Neustrie, where a connection can be made to line 3 of the Tan tram system, using standard network fares.


References


External links


Official website

Official website

Aéroport de Nantes Atlantique at Union des Aéroports Français
* {{authority control Airports in France Transport in Nantes Airports established in 1928 1928 establishments in France