Ambitiously, Lyon Saint Exupéry aims to develop itself as a multi-modal airport and an Airport City. Between 2007 and 2012, €210 million will be invested in the airport’s existing facilities in an effort to achieve the dual purpose strategy and to facilitate an airport capacity of 11 million – all by 2012. Bernand hopes that the airport’s accessibility could largely drive this growth.
“There is a TGV station situated very close to the terminal that has easy connections to airside. Plus, our road transport accessibility is very strong, as the airport is actually located in between two big highways,” said Bernand.
An upcoming €150 million rail development will enable passengers to travel from the centre of Lyon to the airport in just 25 minutes and will depart every 15 minutes in 2010.
The airport’s accessibility could largely drive growth. Bernand: “There is a TGV station situated very close to the terminal that has easy connections to airside. Plus, our road transport accessibility is very strong, as the airport is actually located in between two big highways.”
Strategy focus 1: multi-modal airport
Lyon Saint Exupéry is working towards becoming a multi-modal airport system, in the hope of providing a traditional offering, a low-cost offering, a freight platform, a business airport with Lyon-Bron, and a correspondence hub.
Bernand said: “What we really want is a balanced mix of services. Right now, we have a very balanced portfolio of traffic and do not depend on any specific segment.”
The airport’s growth last year was particularly fuelled by an increase in international traffic, which was up 11.7% in April versus 2007 with 442,860 passengers. Since January, international traffic has grown 10.8% to more than 1.5 million passengers. easyJet’s new services to Madrid, Rome, Barcelona and Berlin have grown by 100.8% compared with 2007, with a total 185,131 passengers. The airport’s desire to expand on low-cost routes is evident as it welcomes a new easyJet base.
“Having an LCC (low-cost carrier) based at Lyon will significantly help local and international businesses development. We are constantly working to offer more and more destinations so that passengers have more choice and businesses are able to develop further. We do also want to develop ourselves as an international airport, so on top of the new routes to New York JFK and Moscow, we are working on a route to Dubai. Plus, as Lyon airport has the quickest connection time in Europe of 25 minutes, we can increase our potential as a transfer hub. In addition, we offer a new efficient LCC terminal with a 40% reduction on tax and a 20-minute turnaround,” said Bernand.
Over the last four months, traffic to Europe has risen 12.5%, with the best results to Germany (+25.5%) due to easyJet flights to Berlin and Air France flights to Hamburg, and Spain (+44.20%), with new easyJet services to Barcelona and Madrid.
Strategy focus 2: City Airport concept
Lyon plans to create a ‘City Airport’ concept by expanding its commercial offering with a variety of services in the hope of increasing the share of non-aviation revenues.
“Many international firms are very interested in having offices at the airport, as their jobs require business travellers to have easy access to the TGV and main highways. We want the airport to not only be an infrastructure for transport, but also a tool for business travellers who want to work at the airport. We want to enable business travellers to have their meetings at the airport over lunch, meet clients and rent offices. The concept of an Airport City is becoming a reality,” said Bernand.
To fully maximise this area, large real estate projects have been underway since the beginning of this year, including a 2,000 space underground car park. A four star hotel with 250 rooms and a large office space will also be complete by the end of 2009.
