Aeroports de Lyon has its menu set: Providing better service, increasing the number of air routes and improving the interconnection network with the main towns in southeast France.
"We want to make Lyon-Saint Exupery the second-biggest point of entry into France," says Yves Guyon, president Aeroports de Lyon. "More generally, the airport must support the dynamic development of the region's economy and its centres of excellence in high-value-added sectors, by facilitating international trade."
The catchment area of the airport is about 18 million people, says Guyon, and it has an estimated €420 billion GDP. The region, known for its wine production and its proximity to the Alps and its ski resorts, is attractive for leisure travellers, who constitute about 40% of passenger traffic. Some 60% of the traffic is attributed to business travel, he said.
Guyon says one of the strong features of the airport is its access to a dedicated rail transport system, which runs from the Part-Dieu station and Lyon in less than 30 minutes.
Two years ago, Delta Air Lines pulled out of the airport. Even though it retained respectable load factors, the yield had dropped, explained Stephane Geffroy, sales and marketing director for Aeroports de Lyon.
The airport was able to offset a 2.6% drop in traffic in 2009 because of growth in the low-cost sector which accounts for 18% of the traffic at Lyon. The boost in traffic was attributed to the arrival of EasyJet in 2008. The airport hopes to develop the low-cost sector to 30% within the next five years. To accommodate this potential, Lyon is in the process of building in a new terminal with a capacity for five million passengers that will be designated for low-cost carriers. It is scheduled for completion next year.
"The brilliant thing in Lyon is that we have a huge potential for cargo," said Geffroy. Currently, much of the cargo from the region is trucked to Charles de Gaulle or Frankfurt airports. Lyon is well equipped to handle cargo and is used by UPS, DHL, TNT and FedEx. It has a cold-storage facility that enables it to handle sensitive perishables or medicines. "That's a potential we are actively looking into," says Geffroy.
The airport has been in talks with unnamed Middle Eastern carriers in an effort to draw in new international long haul service. Geffroy acknowledges that even though a decision could be made, it could take time before any new service is actually launched. But he added: "The moment an airline announces they are coming, it's great."
Source: Flight Daily News
