Press release January 2013

With 8.3 million passengers in 2012, mp Airport gained almost 1 million passengers in one year. The 12.7% traffic increase was the biggest for a major French airport and the 4th highest among the 80 leading European airports (ACI European ranking, end October).  Let’s take a look back over a history-making year...

2012 set a whole batch of new records at mp Airport!

Record annual passenger traffic:                                                          8,295,479

Record annual passenger traffic at mp1 (traditional terminal):                 6,354,306

Record annual passenger traffic at mp2 (low-cost terminal):                   1,809,056

Record passenger traffic in a single day (18 August 2012):                          33,954

Record monthly traffic increase:                                                              +24.1%

Record annual air cargo traffic:                                                                 53,026

Record number of direct scheduled routes:                                                    120

Record number of direct routes out of mp2:                                                    40

Record number of passengers coming to the airport by train:                      120,000

Record number of passengers using (all types of) public transport:           1,050,000

Marseille-Provence Airport (mp) offered a greater number of direct destinations in 2012. Strong development by Air France (3.2 million passengers, +23%) and Ryanair (1.6 million passengers, +37%) contributed substantially to this achievement.

Traffic growth was essentially driven by increased offerings to Europe, the French provinces and North Africa.

2012 was also a particularly rich year for public transport which, for the first time, carried over one million passengers. Particularly noteworthy is the volume of passengers travelling to or from the airport by regional train (TER) in 2012: 120,000 passengers, an increase of 84%. 

2012, a year of innovations to serve our clients!

As announced only 1 year ago, mp Airport invested 2.5 million euros in the creation of new products and services that make travel easier for its clients - from preparing their journey right through to the departure lounge. All of these new products and services sold well, both directly and through travel agencies:

- New website: since the launch of the new website in June 2012 - with a search engine that spotlights direct flights (1st in France), a page per destination, and a “one stop shop” whereby products can be purchased directly from the home page, - the number of searches to book a flight increased by 46%. All of the airport’s websites total over 14,000 visits every day.

 - New car park for on-line reservations: Clients can now reserve a parking space on line in a dedicated new car park right next to the main terminal up to 4 hours before their departure (already more than 30 reservations per day). This new car park complements the long-stay option, “Chèque Parking”, which remains one of the cheapest car parks in France (300 reservations per day).

 - New Fast Track service: Awarded to passengers by some airlines, and also available through an annual subscription, it affords passengers greater control over the time it takes to reach the departure lounge (1,500 passengers per month).

 - New biometric border control: 100% financed by mp Airport, PARAFE renders border control procedures totally automatic (2,500 controls per month).

 - New VIP lounge: The new Lubéron VIP lounge has just opened, offering improved service and unlimited Wi-Fi access.

Most of the above services function with the 2D barcode technology used by the airlines. This means that presenting a boarding card to a scanning device is all it takes to implement them! This is yet another first in France.

Consequently, a client using all of these services for an international departure can be certain of reaching his or her plane in less than 20 minutes - thanks to a reserved parking space, the Fast Track at security inspections, and biometric border control.

Developments and outlook for 2013…

Work to transform facilities at the airport began in 2012. By early spring 2013, 100% of the shops and restaurants at the airport will have been renovated and transformed. This "mpShop" programme totals investments of 7 million euros for about thirty shops, and should generate 52 extra jobs once completed.

700 new parking spaces are also being created at a cost of 4.5 million euros.

In terms of traffic, after the excellent results of 2012, 2013 will be a year of consolidation in a shaky economic context. Several new direct routes have already been announced, such as the legendary route to New York from end May 2013 (XL Airways France, 2 flts/wk) and new direct routes to East Midlands, Warsaw and Chania (Crete) by Ryanair.

2013 will also be a major year for the tourist clientele due to all that is happening in the region, including several launches:

- Marseille-Provence 2013 European Capital of Culture, commencing on 12 and 13 January. Almost 1,000 events will be held throughout the region and throughout the year, some with a very strong international flavour,

- a brand new 5-star Intercontinental hotel is to open in Marseille’s Old Port in April 2013, and

- France’s first national museum outside Paris, MUCEM, will open in May 2013…

So much more is also going on to mark the start of a new era for Marseille-Provence.