With 301,000 passengers in 2022, Caen-Carpiquet airport is approaching its record
Through Christophe Jaquet
Published on
Caen-Carpiquet airport is recovering from the Covid-19 health crisis. And the economic crisis that has affected air transport. In 2022“year of consolidation”, more than 301,000 passengers won the equipment of Caen la mer, managed by the CCI Caen Normandie. Against 227,000 in 2021, and especially less than 163,000 in 2020.
For Manuel Le Roux, head of the CCI, it is “an exceptional result”. Almost as much as in 2019where the airport had set a record, with nearly 305,000 registered travellers.
A record in summer
At the start of 2022, the replacement was “half-hearted”, according to him, with “a real problem of availability of planes and pilots”.
But in April, the airport “returned to success”, assures its director Maryline Haize-Hagron. “Seasonal activity increased from April to October. » She distinguished herself with an unprecedented volume of flights on the Caen tarmac between June, July and August (+11% over the same period in 2021).
For Maryline Haize-Hagron, the spectrum of clientele was at that time the widest, from students to the elderly. These are backed up by recent PRM facilities in the terminal and the “additional reinforcement in high season” of more suitable and qualified personnel. The airport is said to have welcomed more than 2,200 passengers with reduced mobility last year.
More passengers, fewer planes
Attendance suffered “a logical drop at the end of the year”. She was kept afloat by the business clientele.
Its global rise is accompanied by a small revolution in air transport.
We have more passengers and slightly fewer planes in the sky.
The only two companies present at the airport, Air France on the one hand with its subsidiary Hop! for short-haul flights to France, and the Spanish Volotea on the other hand, dispatch “larger planes”, between 100 and 180 seats depending on the aircraft (Embraer 190 for Hop!, Airbus A320 for Volotea). Result: the load factor has increased from 44 passengers per movement (take-off or landing) to 81 in 2022.
The top 3 destinations in 2022
Last year, Caen-Carpiquet airport had 301,395 commercial passengers. This represents an increase in passenger numbers of nearly 33% compared to 2021. Two companies split the cake: Volotea with 205,905 passengers; Air France Hop!, with 94,467 passengers.
As in previous years, the Caen-Lyon link is popular, with nearly 89,000 travellers. It will go up to 17 volumes per week this year. The “mega-surprise”, according to Maryline Haize-Hagron, comes from Marseille, 2nd on the podium, with 60,702 passengers. Nice airport, connected in season (from February 10), is in 3rd position (34,554).
Horizon blocked internationally
In 2023, Caen-Carpiquet airport intends to “continue its reasonable and reasoned development”. Outside from Montenegro, no new destination is specified. Several projects mentioned in the past seem to be on stand-by at best. Brexit and the new bankruptcy of the British company FlyBe sounded the glass of the Caen-London line.
The hoped-for connection, via Lille-Lesquin, to the European hub of Amsterdam is put away in the boxes. Maryline Haize-Hagron explains: “The Dutch government has taken a measure to reduce the development of Schipol. It’s not a priority. »
A group, what group?
The consolidation between the 4 Normandy airports – Caen, Deauville, Le Havre and Rouen – also seems to be at a standstill. At 1uh January 2024, they were to have a single manager. The grouped call for tenders procedure for operation has just been “abandoned”, confirms Joël Bruneau, president of Caen la mer. It must be relaunched. “This will lead us to extend the contracts of the current operators. »
In the meantime, “we remain on our complementarity with Deauville airport”, breathes Maryline Haize-Hagron. “We are talking two ways. The two airports already exchange staff in the summer, to cope with the influx.
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