papabravowhiskey
19th Jun 2008, 17:03
The French Govt's white paper on defense has been published, proposing cutbacks in manpower and restructuring of the military services. Although the detailed proposals are only to be announced on 3rd July, Nimes-Garons is said to be under particular threat, according to articles in the French media. Nimes currently hosts a naval air base (maritime patrol etc) which provides ATC and fire cover and contributes significantly to the upkeep of the infrastructure (eg paying 50-60% of the cost of the runway resurfacing carried out late last year). The only scheduled civil services are provided by Ryanair (CRL/EMA/LPL/LTN) and hence there are typically only 3 flights/day. The other main resident on site is a Sabena Technics maintenance facility.
The rumours are that the military are likely to be moved elsewhere (Orange?) and although it is possible that army units may move in to replace them, it is said that they will have no use for the runway.
The politics seem to be going against the base: apparently, although the council in Nimes is campaigning for the retention of the base, the mayor of the village of Garons has been campaigning against the main proposal that would have saved the base - the siting of a fighter base there - because the Rafales would be "so much more noisy" than the Atlantiques/Nord 262s/Xingus/Dassault Falcons that currently lurk there. So if the Aeronavale goes, there's no ATC and no fire cover (It's a bit more complicated than that but this is the essence).
The civil side has been supported by subventions from the Region and locality in the past, and there are some in the area who do not like to see their money support RYR. Other operators have apparently been offered similar deals, but all the proposed services have come to nought, the last being scheduled flights proposed by Euromer using an ACMI aircraft, where the deal fell apart at the last minute. There is also competition from other airports in the area (eg MRS/MPL/Beziers/CCF/Perpignan), some of which have more political backing than Nimes seems to be able to muster at present.
Hence it looks like the military will depart, which will leave the local chamber of commerce and Veolia (who run the civil side) to find some way of covering the additional costs of providing the services necessary to keep the place open. Unless they get a lot more traffic going in, it would seem uneconomic to keep it open. It has been reported that Sabena Technics has been looking at options for moving its activities elsewhere.
The rumours are that the military are likely to be moved elsewhere (Orange?) and although it is possible that army units may move in to replace them, it is said that they will have no use for the runway.
The politics seem to be going against the base: apparently, although the council in Nimes is campaigning for the retention of the base, the mayor of the village of Garons has been campaigning against the main proposal that would have saved the base - the siting of a fighter base there - because the Rafales would be "so much more noisy" than the Atlantiques/Nord 262s/Xingus/Dassault Falcons that currently lurk there. So if the Aeronavale goes, there's no ATC and no fire cover (It's a bit more complicated than that but this is the essence).
The civil side has been supported by subventions from the Region and locality in the past, and there are some in the area who do not like to see their money support RYR. Other operators have apparently been offered similar deals, but all the proposed services have come to nought, the last being scheduled flights proposed by Euromer using an ACMI aircraft, where the deal fell apart at the last minute. There is also competition from other airports in the area (eg MRS/MPL/Beziers/CCF/Perpignan), some of which have more political backing than Nimes seems to be able to muster at present.
Hence it looks like the military will depart, which will leave the local chamber of commerce and Veolia (who run the civil side) to find some way of covering the additional costs of providing the services necessary to keep the place open. Unless they get a lot more traffic going in, it would seem uneconomic to keep it open. It has been reported that Sabena Technics has been looking at options for moving its activities elsewhere.