Pau – a gem in south west France

Jean-Luc Cohen

Jean-Luc Cohen, Director of Pau-Pyrénées Airport: “2013 was a very successful year for Pau-Pyrénées Airport. We’ve strengthened key routes serving the local business market and enriched our leisure offering with new scheduled flights to Corsica by Hop!, which announcing a new route to Ajaccio in addition to Bastia this summer.”

The performance of Pau-Pyrénées Airport in term of yields and load factors is among the highest in France. Throughput has performed consistently well, with a 5.9% increase to 645,577 passengers in 2013.

“2013 was a very successful year for Pau-Pyrénées Airport. We’ve strengthened key routes serving the local business market and enriched our leisure offering with new scheduled flights to Corsica by Hop!, which announcing a new route to Ajaccio in addition to Bastia this summer,” Jean-Luc Cohen, Director of Pau-Pyrénées Airport, commented.
Pau-Pyrénées Airport is the access point for travellers to the Pyrénées and Gascony regions. The rich city heritage sites and renowned gastronomy makes it the ideal base from which to explore the region. Both Pyrénées resorts and the ocean are reachable in one hour, while the Lourdes sanctuary is only 40 minutes away. “Pau is also a city of sport and events, every year hosting world-class horse races, international golf competitions, car races, the Tour de France, the largest white water sport centre, and ski resorts are only 60km away,” Aurélia Moniot, Communication & Marketing Executive at Pau-Pyrénées Airport, explained. “We are working in partnership with several foreign trade organisations and believe the inbound leisure segment, for LCCs or charter operators, has great opportunities to develop in Pau.”

Multinational corporations ‘Pau’s strongest asset’

Pau Airport terminal

Jean-Luc Cohen, Director of Pau-Pyrénées Airport: “Most large corporations in Pau are multinationals and are the airport’s strongest asset.”

From the 1950s to the 1990s, Pau’s economy depended on the production of natural gas and sulphur, and saw the creation of Elf Aquitaine, now part of Total. Total has further invested heavily in the region with the creation of its main technical and scientific research centre, which has over 2,900 employees. The sector has transformed in recent years to create one of the premier petrochemical research and innovation hubs, with major players such as the Japanese Toray, and Arkema, and dozens of other players. The SAFRAN Group is also very dominant in the region with Turbomeca, the leading manufacturer of gas turbines for helicopters, and Messier-Dowty, the world’s largest manufacturer of aircraft landing gear. A strong food-processing industry is also present with one of the leaders in the agriculture and food industry markets, Euralis, and also Lindt.

“Most large corporations in Pau are multinationals and are the airport’s strongest asset,” Cohen said. “Our market provides a high contribution of passengers that require the right service to the right destinations. The UK, Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Spain and Morocco are our top priorities to satisfy demand. We also want to recapture the leakage from medium size companies and leisure travellers that may not be given sufficient choice at the moment.”

A number of opportunities exist to capture the market with additional direct services. As part of the airport’s expansion strategy, it is working to better identify opportunities and liaise with airlines that suit the market. “This is an important initiative to gain momentum in the larger European marketplace, and we have great expectation to continue supporting economic growth and leisure passengers in the region,” Cohen concluded.


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