Press release January 2012

2011: a year of consolidation after a record-breaking 2010.

2012: all-time strongest growth expected (+ 1 million passengers!), plus a host of new services for our passengers.

1) 2011 traffic: 7,363,068 passengers (-2.1%) and a new record for cargo traffic with 53,019 tonnes (+1.6%).

> Passenger traffic

Traffic amounted to 7,363,068 passengers in 2011, slightly down (-2.1%) compared to 2010.

Very positive results by most classic scheduled airlines (Air France, KLM, British Airways, Lufthansa, Brussels Airlines, etc), and Air France opening its base at the end of the year (2 October), did not fully compensate the consequences of the Arab Spring and Ryanair relocating its aircraft during the winter 2011 programme.

Domestic traffic at mp-airport fell by 4.1% despite significant growth in traffic to Paris (+6.9%). For example, traffic to Orly bounced back, rising above the one-million-passenger mark again after several consecutive years of decline. Traffic to the provinces fell dramatically however (-19.4%), due to drastic cutbacks in the number of Ryanair flights.

Traffic to the provinces fell dramatically however (-19.4%), due to drastic cutbacks in the number of Ryanair flights.

International traffic continued to dominate (53% of total traffic). The 0.8% increase was driven by double-digit growth in European traffic (+12%), due notably to the introduction of 12 new routes.

Evolutions in traffic to Africa (North Africa: -11.8%, Rest of Africa: -45.6%) reflect the consequences of the Arab Spring. Traffic to Tunisia, which is the most popular leisure destination departing from mp-airport, plummeted by 30%, representing a loss of 109,000 passengers. Morocco and Egypt recorded declines of -17% and -56% respectively.

Overview of scheduled flight changes in 2011:

New scheduled services

- Winter 2010/2011: Düsseldorf Weeze (Ryanair), Seville (Ryanair), Tenerife (Ryanair), Valencia (Ryanair), Palermo (Ryanair), Venice (Air Corsica), Malta (Ryanair), Geneva (TwinJet)

- Summer 2011: Minorca (Iberia), Helsinki (Blue1)

- October 2011, Air France base: Biarritz, Brest, Düsseldorf, Copenhagen, Athens, Milan, Eindhoven, Prague, Moscow, Basel-Mulhouse, Istanbul, Casablanca, Beirut

- November 2011: Pau (Twinjet), Toulouse (Twinjet), Milan Bergamo (Ryanair), Rome Ciampino (Ryanair).

Scheduled services closed in 2011

- Mauritius and Réunion by Corsairfly, when the airline switched its focus to Paris. It is to be noted that Air Austral continues to offer direct flights to Réunion and is increasing its service with a 4th weekly flight from end March.

- Pau by DAT (route taken over by Twinjet).

- Damascus by Syrianair.

> Cargo traffic

Cargo business reached a new record level in 2011 for the 4th consecutive year with 53,019 tonnes of air cargo (progression of +1.6% compared to 2010). mp-airport thus reinforces its position as the leading provincial airport for air cargo. Cargo traffic has grown by 30% over the past 5 years. 

The engine for cargo growth remains express freight. TNT now occupies first place in this business sector at the Marseille base, handling 11,170 tonnes of cargo (+6.8% compared to 2010).

The traditional cargo business remained stable. It was dominated by Air Algérie (2,358 tonnes, including 1,512 tonnes transported in aircraft exclusively carrying cargo) and Air Corsica (1,912 tonnes), which recorded strong growth in 2011 (+19.3%).

> Land links

2011 was a very rich year in terms of developing public transport solutions.

Over 840,000 people travelled to or from the airport on public transport (bus and train). This represented an increase of 7% compared to 2010, and is to be underlined given the drop in passenger traffic of -2.1%.

mp-airport now has direct links by bus and/or train to 46 cities.

Although the most frequently used form of public transport remains the shuttle bus, trains now also play an important role.

Improving both time-keeping and the scope of the regional express train (TER) service at "Vitrolles Aéroport Marseille-Provence", immediately triggered an increase in the use of this mode of transport. Traffic levels rose by 83% in one year, with almost 70,000 passengers travelling to or from the airport by train. Fifteen further trains per day were added in December 2011, bringing the total up to 60 trains per day. This should spark yet further interest in this major mode of transport, particularly in regions located to the west of the airport (Montpellier, Nîmes and Arles) and to the north (central Avignon, Cavaillon, Orange, Montélimar and downtown Valence).

 

2) 2012: all-time record-breaking growth expected.

Although no monumental changes are planned for the airport in 2012, it will nevertheless be offering more air travel than ever before in its history - both in terms of destinations and seats. This should generate an increase of between +12% and +14% in the number of passengers (total 8.3 millions passengers in 2012).

The main reasons are the return in force of Ryanair and the new Air France base functioning at full steam. Air France will fly direct to 28 destinations and Ryanair to 34. The two biggest European airlines (in numbers of passengers transported) will thus, between them, operate 62 routes in 2012 at mp-airport, compared to the 36 routes they operated last year!

Extra traffic will also be generated by other airlines offering new services, such as Vueling (Barcelona), TwinJet (Pau and Toulouse), Jet4you (Agadir and Marrakech) plus a richer offering from Air Transat (Montreal and Quebec).

Reminder of the 33 new routes already announced for 2012 (see annex for details):

New routes compared to the winter 2011 programme (until end March)

Milan with Ryanair

Pau and Toulouse with TwinJet

Agadir and Marrakech with Jet4you

Air France base: Biarritz, Düsseldorf, Copenhagen, Athens, Milan, Eindhoven, Prague, Moscow, Basel-Mulhouse, Istanbul, Casablanca, Beirut.

New routes compared to the summer 2011 programme (from end March)

Barcelona by Vueling, Copenhagen by Norwegian

Hamburg, Barcelona, Venezia and Marrakech by Air France

Bordeaux, Faro, Ibiza, Milan, Oujda, Paris-Beauvais, Paris-Vatry, Palma, Rome and Zadar by Ryanair.

3)  Major changes and innovations at mp-airport in 2012.

In 2012, on top of record air travel opportunities, passengers at mp-airport will benefit from a host of new products and innovative services, the fruit of mp-airport's strategy to improve the passenger experience at every phase of his or her journey - from preparing the trip beforehand, to travelling to the airport, all the way through to boarding the aircraft.

> Preparing to travel

The airport is now on facebook (www.facebook.com/AeroportMarseilleProvence), where the airport's clients and its staff can interact and communicate. The new website (www.mp.aeroport.fr) will be launched in the spring, packed with travel-related information. The new site's menu includes pages for each of the airport's direct destinations, detailing the entire flight offering on both scheduled (classic and low-cost) and charter airlines. Clients thus no longer have to carry out countless searches to find what they are looking for. Particular attention will be paid to descriptive and interactive content with, for example, videos of interviews with passengers returning from the destination, and an "intelligent" Frequently Asked Questions section. Furthermore, a thorough sales module called the e-kiosk will ensure that a range of services will also be available for purchase on line.

In 2011, 14,000 people visited the airport's websites every day.

> Real-time information on Departure Day

The new mobile website (www.mp.aeroport.fr/mobile) launched at the end of 2011 offers direct access to essential information when on the way to the airport or during the arrival process.

Passengers can check the time of their flight, learn of any disruptions, and link up to the on-line check-in services provided by several airlines. The details of restaurants, shops and useful contacts are also highlighted.

For travellers who never leave home without their phone, a new autocom service will be up and running in the spring to improve waiting times.

> Travelling to the airport on public transport

Public transport options for travelling to and from the airport have improved immensely:

-         shuttle busses from Marseille are more frequent (every 15 min.s compare to every 20 min.s in 2011) and prices have come down (€12.80 for a return ticket since 1 January, compared to €17 in 2011). There is also a combined TTM ticket for Marseille at the very attractive price of €8.50 one way;

-         more trains have been added, increasing to 60 the number of regional express trains (TER) stopping at "Vitrolles Aéroport Marseille-Provence". mp-airport is now the French airport with the best train service (in terms of numbers of trains and destinations) outside Paris.

All in all, mp-airport is connected to 46 cities by public transport, including Arles, Avignon, Brignoles, Cadarache, Cavaillon, Digne, Manosque, Marseille, Miramas, Montélimar, Montpellier, Nîmes, Salon, Saint-Maximin, Tarascon and Valence.

> Driving to the airport

There are already 12,000 parking spaces at the airport, but 2 further car parks (+500 spaces) are to be added to cater for increased traffic and to improve parking comfort.

A new e-parking service will be launched in March. Travellers will be able to reserve parking spaces near the terminal buildings on internet, which is very reassuring on very busy days and also means that the entire trip up to take-off can be prepared in advance. This service costs from 12 euros per day and offers a cancellation option. It will available on the airport's website from March.

Meanwhile, the low-cost parking option called "e-cheque-parking" (long-term parking for a period of up to 16 days costing 20 to 30 euros) will continue to offer the cheapest airport parking fees in France.

> 100% restaurant make-over plus new shops

Concepteur Vezzoni

Clients entering into the terminal buildings at the end of 2012 will discover a completely revamped range of opportunities for eating and drinking plus new shops. Renewing the restaurant concession granted to Autogrill is bringing in an investment of 4.4 million euros, allocated to redesigning the 13 existing restaurants and creating 4 further eateries. Autogrill has 145 employees at the airport and will create 25 further positions once the new restaurants are up and running.

Dining areas will be metamorphosed and a wide range of eating styles will be offered, including health and well-being options such as, for example, the brand Joosbayoo preparing fresh produce in front of the client. Global brands such as Starbucks will move into the airport; nationally and internationally renowned fast food restaurants will be present, such as French sandwich bar Brioche Dorée; and there will be a new gourmet restaurant, resulting from a partnership with the Villa des Chefs in Aix en Provence. A conference will be organised in February to present these developments in detail.

> Fast Track for frequent fliers

A Fast Track option was launched in Hall 1 on 19 December 2011 and will be extended to Halls 3 and 4 in coming weeks.

It grants travellers unlimited priority access to security checkpoints in order to bypass traditional queues. The subscription is nominative and costs 120 euros per year, although a special launch price of 90 euros is now available on mp-airport's website until 15 February.

Certain airlines - Air Algérie, Aigle Azur and British Airways – have already decided to offer Fast Track to their premium clientele. TwinJet grants it to all of its passengers.

> Displaying waiting time at security checkpoints

The length of time a traveller can expect to wait at a security checkpoint (hand luggage inspection) will be displayed in the terminals. The automatic monitoring of waiting time is one way of enhancing the flow of information to all departing passengers. It will also allow the airport to be more pro-active in allocating resources and boarding facilities to reduce overall waiting time. Halls 3 and 4 will be equipped for the beginning of spring. All other Halls (including mp²) will be equipped for the summer season.

> Automation of immigration control

Following in the footsteps of the Paris airports, Marseille-Provence is to be the first provincial airport to adopt the automatic immigration clearance system referred to as "PARAFE" in French (Passage Automatisé Rapide Des Frontières Extérieures). After a biometric check, travellers advance swiftly and automatically through immigration control. Passengers travelling on direct non-Schengen flights (Canada, North Africa, Middle East, etc.) will thus save considerable time. This free service will also be offered to arriving international flights.

> Greater comfort in boarding lounges

Not only is the range of restaurants and shops at the airport to be improved, but the VIP lounges for business passengers and private travellers (entrance fee of 18 euros) are also to be either enhanced (Salon Cézanne, international boarding) or totally revamped (Salon Lubéron, Schengen boarding).

All of these innovations and investments will considerably improve the traveller's departure experience at the airport, thanks to more efficient access to information, reduced waiting time for departure formalities and an overall environment that is even more user-friendly and comfortable.

4) 2012: new for tourists visiting Marseille and Provence.

Further efforts will also be directed to welcoming incoming tourists at arrivals.

Tourists are already greeted by a host of welcome messages as soon as they leave the aircraft. Such messages will be reinforced from the spring of 2012.

In light of new direct connections to different markets, a revised information brochure in 8 languages (French, English, Arabic, Spanish, Hebrew, Italian, Russian and Turkish) will be handed out free from the end of the winter, detailing the different ways of travelling into the region from mp-airport.

From autumn 2012, passengers will exit through 4 massive works of art symbolising doorways into the European Capital of Culture.

Finally, mp-airport continues its prospection efforts to develop the flow of incoming tourists. Numerous promotion initiatives are undertaken abroad within the framework of the flyprovence convention featuring Bouches-du-Rhône Tourisme, the Office de Tourisme et des Congrès de Marseille and Marseille-Provence 2013. Furthermore, a call for projects is underway to stimulate the creation of incoming products in order to attract new tourists to Marseille and Provence.

5)  Economic impact of mp-airport on the Marseille-Provence region.

Marseille-Provence Airport is host to almost 200 businesses employing approximately 5,000 people. The direct economic impact of mp-airport was calculated in 2009 to amount to almost half a billion euros. Adding the indirect and induced impacts of business generated by the airport gives a total impact of almost 3 billion euros. 

It is to be noted that the airport's economic impact is strongly linked to the arrival of tourists to the Marseille-Provence region. In 2011, over 39% of the airport's 7.3 million passengers were coming to visit the Marseille-Provence region.