The Summer shines on Marseille Provence Airport

Marseille Provence Airport, the third largest airport in France outside of the capital, Paris has enjoyed a record breaking summer following a surge in passenger traffic and is on course to handle over eight million passengers for the full year after rather linear growth for the past eight years.  The airport’s success has been driven by a network growth fuelled by national carrier Air France and Irish budget carrier Ryanair which have both added to their networks during the current calendar year.

This has resulted in the airport breaking a host of traffic records during the height of the summer schedule.  During July 2012 the airport handled a record number of monthly passengers as 893,052 people passed through the facility, while in August the airport reported in largest month-on-month demand increase of 24.1 per cent.  It had its busiest ever day on August 18, 2012 when 33,954 passengers used the airport, while in July 2012 a record number of passengers (110,000) travelled to the airport in public transport.

During the first eight months of the year, Marseille Provence Airport has handled 5.6 million passengers.  This represents 770,000 more than the same period last year, up 15.8 per cent and one of the largest rises to be reported by a major European airport.  Alongside the network growth of Air France and Ryanair, the French facility has seen new air services from Spanish budget carrier Vueling, while local operator Aigle Azur, North African flag carrier Tunisair and Canadian leisure carrier Air Transat have all provided capacity increases.

The airport also has a bright future into summer next year after XL Airways confirmed its intent early last month to inaugurate flights from Marseille Provence to New York.  This is one of a number of new network announcements, which also included British Airways opening a three times daily link to London Heathrow. 

The New York service is the headline route in a network from XL Airways which also includes links to Reunion Island, Mayotte and Punta Cana.  The airline will offer a twice weekly non-stop rotation to the Big Apple from the end of May 2013 as the carrier bases a single Airbus A330-200 at Marseille Provence for the summer season. 

This growth means the airport has direct links to 114 destinations with 154 different direct routes being served this year, 122 of which are flown on a scheduled basis.  This network encompasses 33 different countries with flights from 30 different scheduled air carriers.  The success of its route development strategy has helped considerably extended the airport’s catchment area.  Today, over 57 per cent of the airport's clients come from departments other than Marseille (i.e. over one hour's drive from the airport).

As one of its summer records highlights these clients are making more frequent use of public transport with usage up 28 per cent since the beginning of the year.  Bus and train shuttles link Marseille Provence to over 40 towns throughout south-eastern France and the latest network addition has been a summer bus service to and from Saint-Tropez.  “Marseille Provence Airport is by far the best French regional airport in public transportation accessibility for the number of frequencies and destinations it serves,” says the airport. 

To support its increased traffic, Marseille Provence has invested in improving the product offering to its passengers and those passing through the airport this year will discover a completely revamped range of retail and food and drink options.  Renewing the restaurant concession at an investment of 4.4 million Euros, brings a redesign for the 13 existing restaurants and creates a further four options for travellers.

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 number of other innovations are also on offer for passengers even before they have entered airside areas.  There are already 12,000 parking spaces at the airport, but 2 further car parks (+500 spaces) have been added this year to cater for increased traffic and to improve parking comfort.  

Since February 2012, car parking places have been bookable online and access passengers have been permitted direct access to the facility with the Bar Coded Boarding Pass.  Meanwhile, the airport’s low-cost parking option called ‘e-cheque-parking’ (long-term parking for a period of up to 16 days costing about 2 Euros per day) continues to offer among the cheapest airport parking fees in France.

Working with some of its airline customers Marseille Provence has also provided a fast-track security option for frequent flyers, that grants selected travellers unlimited priority access to security checkpoints in order to bypass traditional queues.  According to airport management, “several airlines have already decided to offer Fast Track to their premium clientele.”

Also, following in the footsteps of the Parisian airports, Marseille-Provence has become the first provincial airport to adopt the automatic immigration clearance system.  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.) are thus able to save considerable time in travel through the facility.  This free service is also offered to arriving international flights.

Statistics show that Marseille Provence’s extended air network is stimulating tourism to this region of France.  During a recent survey, 33 per cent of tourists questioned claimed that they would not have come to the Marseille-Provence region if there had not been a direct flight.  Around 42 per cent of them were visiting the area for the first time ever.

Further efforts are now to 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, but in light of new direct connections to different markets, a revised information brochure in eight languages (French, English, Arabic, Spanish, Hebrew, Italian, Russian and Turkish) is now being handed out free to charge to arrivals, detailing the different ways of travelling into the region from the airport.

From autumn 2012, passengers will exit through four massive works of art symbolising doorways into the European Capital of Culture.  Throughout next year as Marseille celebrates its role as Europe’s Capital of Culture, Marseille Provence will offer a warm welcome to the world.  Over 400 events are due to take place, including: 60 exhibitions, hundreds of concerts, artistic trails and popular gatherings.

Marseille Provence continues its efforts to develop the flow of incoming tourists to the region still further.  Numerous promotion initiatives are undertaken abroad within the framework of the flyprovence convention featuring Marseille tourism board partners (Bouches-du-Rhône Tourisme, Office de Tourisme et des Congrès de Marseille and Marseille-Provence 2013). 

Tourists are key to the region around ten million visit every year, spending around 2 billion Euros.  Around 43 million overnight stays are recorded in the Marseille area every year, while around 820,000 cruise passengers arrive annually.  With 2,500 additional beds in 2013, Marseille Provence is confident of breaking even more records in 2013 in the region where the Mediterranean means business.