No new airport for Nantes

[2016parks]

I see that the government of France has nixed construction of a proposed new airport. Per Wikipedia, ‘The Grand Ouest Airport, or Aéroport du Grand Ouest Project was to be situated 30 km (20 mi) to the north-west of the French city of Nantes in the commune of Notre-Dame-des-Landes. It was intended for the new airport to replace Nantes Atlantique Airport as the airport for Nantes, but also to serve as an international gateway for western France.’
Major new airports are rare, I believe. Are the other French airports overcrowded?

[SpringHeeledJack]

The major ones are, perhaps it's money where the power is ? Unlike a federal Germany next door, political power resides in Paris, large populations reside in Nice, Marseilles and Lyon and London ;-) , so the rest can whistle, even though they contribute significantly to the coffers.

[wiggy]

I see that the government of France has nixed construction of a proposed new airport. Per Wikipedia, ‘The Grand Ouest Airport, or Aéroport du Grand Ouest Project was to be situated 30 km (20 mi) to the north-west of the French city of Nantes in the commune of Notre-Dame-des-Landes. It was intended for the new airport to replace Nantes Atlantique Airport as the airport for Nantes, but also to serve as an international gateway for western France.’
Major new airports are rare, I believe. Are the other French airports overcrowded?

Well I’m glad that’s over....if it is ....according to a report on French TV the other day this whole saga has been running since the late 60’s.

I don’t know the specifics of Nantes, there may well be very good specific reasons (location vs. city) there for a move to a green field site, but I’m not sure many airports in deepest France are so overwhelmed with traffic that they need a new build.

What I think has happened elsewhere in France ( I stress IMHO only, so would be interested to hear other opinions on this- just seen SHJs point and agree) is that 10 to 20 years ago many local politicians wanted their own departmental airport to attract money spending tourists to their department, flying in with the then fast expanding LoCos such as Ryanair (thinking about it it is possibly a classic example of a cargo cult).

We had one planned locally but it never made sense - we already had a modern twin runway international airport in the department next door and v g motorway links to the same, plus a couple of other smaller airports just outside the departmental boundary.... I doubt anywhere in the department was more than 90 minutes drive from an airport served by Ryanair or EasyJet. Nevertheless somebody at departmental level (think U.K. county by way of comparison) came up with a hare brained scheme for a brand new airport on a greenfield site. Enquiries and protests followed...and I mean proper French protests...involving farmers....:bored: . Fortunately for just about everybody the department ran out money for infrastructure projects and the plan got binned. One or two other departments elsewhere did build or significantly expand airports..... and they are now saddled with acres of little used concrete/terminal buildings.

[Alsacienne]

Benefiting from the dual-country BSL, there was a time when Crossair disappeared that the newly-upgraded airport was in danger of becoming a white elephant. Other airlines reduced frequency ... but thanks to EZS, the airport is still in business, a pleasure to use, and attracting new companies and routes as the years go by.

SXB, however, once heavily used as a military base, has seen better days ... even FR threw their toys out of the pram and removed themselves to FKB, and AF now serve Strasbourg/CDG by train, which makes any 'worldwide connections' far more time-consuming. Room for expansion already here ... but more takers welcome.