the Administrative Court validates the extension of Terminal 2
This 25,000 m2 extension should allow passengers to benefit “the best reception and safety conditions”.
Following the hearing on September 19, the Administrative Court of Marseille rendered its judgment and validated the extension of Nice-Côte d’Azur airport. Covering 25,000 m2, this extension includes two additional buildings in the extension of Terminal 2. Six new boarding gates will be created there.
According to the airport press release, the Tribunal states that ” the project does not have the effect of significantly and certainly increasing air traffic “, and thus dismisses the associations for the defense of the environment. According to the judgment, the increase in the number of passengers ” will essentially be enabled by the continued optimization of the aircraft load factor and by increasing aircraft capacity », and not by the increase in the number of planes circulating within the airport.
For its part, Nice airport points out that 36% of passengers are residents and 24% frequent travelers, “which contradicts the idea of over-tourism by limiting the number of new travelers to less than one million”. It also insists on its good actions in terms of the environment, like its commitment made in 2020, in order to achieve neutrality without compensation before 2030 (by including the Terminal 2 extension project in its calculations).
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14.5 million passengers in 2019
While the airport’s maximum theoretical capacity is 14 million passengers, it is often exceeded, as in 2019 when it reached 14.5 million. According to the sneakers, the extension of Terminal 2 will make it possible to increase the theoretical capacity of the airport to 18 million passengers (i.e. 1.75 million more people than in 2019).
This will allow better reception and security conditions, but also, in the event of a new wave of Covid-19, to more easily respect barrier gestures.