French intermediate airports suffer from "structural fragility", according to the Court of Auditors

"Intermediate airports", whose attendance is between that of international airports and local aerodromes, suffer from "structural fragility" amplified by their disaffection by travelers in favor of trains, points out a report by the Court of Auditors published THURSDAY. These 41 "intermediate" airports, such as those of Rennes, Strasbourg or Montpellier, - out of 73 airports in metropolitan France in 2019 - are particularly affected by the effects of French "airport decentralization" and investment inequalities depending on the territory, according to the Court of Auditors which considers that “none of the public actors has more of an overall vision” of the airport network.

These medium-sized airports, which "contribute to opening up isolated territories or serve well-connected regional cities" and are mostly owned by local authorities, welcomed between 10,000 and 3 million commercial passengers in 2019, but were " weakened by the development of high-speed rail lines and the gradual withdrawal of the Air France group”, underlines this report. This situation has been accentuated by the Covid-19 pandemic, the rise of low-cost airlines and the “awareness of the carbon footprint of air transport” among travelers and public actors, according to the Court. An “adaptation” to the energy transition, taking into account the particularities of each airport, is thus necessary, indicates the report which recalls that “the plane emits on average nearly 100 times more greenhouse gases per passenger transported than the TGV", according to ADEME.

These “intermediate” airports also face “significant fixed costs”, particularly related to security, without benefiting from the same revenue as international airports. This forces them to resort to aid from local authorities for their development, analyzes the Court of Auditors, stressing however that this aid is sometimes used to finance partnerships and "marketing campaigns" with low-cost companies, which have already been condemned. by the European Commission. The Court of Auditors thus recommends that the State review and harmonize the management of the French airport network, in particular by suggesting the creation of an “airport observatory” to provide an overview.