Bordeaux–Mérignac Airport () is an

international airport An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports, and feature longer runways and have faciliti ...

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

, in southwestern France. It is situated in the ''commune'' of Mérignac, west of Bordeaux, within the ''

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. There are a total of 101 ...

'' of the

Gironde Gironde ( , US usually , ; , ) is the largest department in the southwestern French region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. Named after the Gironde estuary, a major waterway, its prefecture is Bordeaux. In 2019, it had a population of 1,623,749.

. It mainly features flights to metropolitan and leisure destinations in Europe, Northern Africa, and Canada, and serves as a base for

easyJet EasyJet plc (styled as easyJet) is a British multinational low-cost airline group headquartered at London Luton Airport. It operates domestic and international scheduled services on 927 routes in more than 34 countries via its affiliate airlin ...

and

Volotea Volotea () is a Spanish low-cost airline registered in Castrillón and headquartered in Barcelona. History Foundation and early years Volotea was established by Alaeo S.L. from Barcelona, a company created by former Vueling founders, Carlo ...

History

Foundation and early years

Bordeaux Airport has been founded in 1912, after the French government purchased previously privately owned land. Its first non-temporary passenger terminal had been constructed in the early 1930s.bordeaux.aeroport.fr - The history of the airport
retrieved 28 September 2024 KG 40, the prime land-based maritime patrol Luftwaffe unit was primarily based at Bordeaux-Mérignac during the Occupation of France in World War II. The airport underwent major expansion and refurbishment during the 1960s. The first scheduled flights to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

were operated by

Air Inter Air Inter () (legally ''Lignes Aériennes Intérieures'') was a semi-public French domestic airline in France that operated from 1954 until it merged with Air France in 1997. It was last headquartered in Paray-Vieille-Poste, Essonne.''World Ai ...

in 1962 and by 1970, Bordeaux handled over 500,000 passengers. During the 70s and by 1986, the terminal building has again been expanded significantly. By 1987, it reached a capacity of 2,000,000 passengers per year.

Development since the 1990s

From 1994-1996 an entirely new passenger terminal was built dedicated to frequent services on the Bordeaux-Paris route, followed by a new air traffic control tower in 2000. In 2010, another terminal expansion to be used by

low-cost carrier A low-cost carrier (LCC) or low-cost airline, also called a budget, or discount carrier or airline, is an airline that is operated with an emphasis on minimizing operating costs. It sacrifices certain traditional airline luxuries for cheaper fa ...

s was inaugurated - by 2014, these were responsible for 40 percent of the airport's traffic. In 2017, Bordeaux surpassed 6 million passengers a year for the first time. In May 2024,

Ryanair Ryanair is an Irish Low-cost carrier#Ultra low-cost carrier, ultra low-cost airline group headquartered in Swords, County Dublin, Ireland. The parent company, Ryanair Holdings plc, includes subsidiaries Ryanair , Malta Air, Buzz (Ryanair), Buzz ...

announced it will be leaving Bordeaux–Mérignac Airport citing fee increases, leading to the termination of 40 routes. The airline subsequently ceased all operations at the airport by November 2024.

Terminals

Bordeaux Airport has three passenger buildings: * Terminal A is mainly for international flights. * Terminal B, which had been inaugurated in 1996, has two levels and is principally dedicated to

Air France Air France (; legally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France, and is headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. The airline is a subsidiary of the Air France-KLM Group and is one of the founding members ...

traffic between Paris/Lyon and Bordeaux. * Terminal billi, built in 2010 and expanded in 2015, is a separate facility for

low cost carrier A low-cost carrier (LCC) or low-cost airline, also called a budget, or discount carrier or airline, is an airline that is operated with an emphasis on minimizing operating costs. It sacrifices certain traditional airline luxuries for cheaper fa ...

s. It has one floor and has small check-in and arrivals areas as well as a departures area with six aircraft parking positions which are used for walk boarding. User of Terminal billi is

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights from Bordeaux–Mérignac Airport:

Statistics

Ground transport

Road

The airport is accessible by road via the A630 autoroute (exit ''11b''). There is a shuttle by 30'Direct shuttle serving the Bordeaux Saint-Jean railway station. Bus route ''1+'' of Transports Bordeaux Métropole serves the city centre.

Tram

Bordeaux tramway The Bordeaux tramway network (, ) consists of four lines serving the city of Bordeaux in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. The system has a route length of , serving a total of 133 tram stops. The first line of Bordeaux's modern tramwa ...

's Line A links the airport with the city centre since the end of April 2023.

Accidents and incidents

* On 21 December 1987, Air Littoral Flight 1919, an Embraer EMB 120RT Brasilia registered as ''F-GEGH'', crashed during approach to the airport, killing all 16 occupants onboard.

References

External links

Official website

Aéroport de Bordeaux
(Union des Aéroports Français) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bordeaux - Merignac Airport Airports in Nouvelle-Aquitaine Installations of the French Air and Space Force Buildings and structures in Bordeaux Transport in Nouvelle-Aquitaine