• The Nice airport extension project has been at the heart of the debates since the validation of the building permit from the prefect of the Alpes-Maritimes in January 2020.

  • This Monday morning was held the hearing of the appeal filed by the Collective citizens 06 to cancel this building permit.

  • The decision was deliberated within fifteen days.

After the highlighting of CO2 emissions from private jets and at a time of energy "sobriety", the cancellation of the Nice airport extension project, for which the building permit was issued in 2020 by the prefect of the Alpes-Maritimes, is once again at the center of the debates.

This Monday morning was held at the Administrative Court of Marseille the hearing to request the cancellation of the building permit for T2.3, filed in February 2020. "The decision was deliberated within two weeks", specifies Airy Chrétien of the Collectif Citizens 06, at the origin of the action.

According to him, “this construction of 25,000 m2, that is to say, a third of more surface area, induces millions of additional passengers.

It is a climaticide project which will emit 200,000 tons of CO2 more per year.

For more than two and a half years, the environmental activist has been fighting to have this project canceled.

But leaving the hearing, he admits to being pessimistic because “the public rapporteur has swept away” all his arguments.

Not an extension to accommodate "more planes"

“The figures are wrong, slice the spokesperson for Nice Côte d'Azur airports.

The current capacity is 14.5 million passengers per year, that is to say, who passed through Nice airport.

Over the next ten years, with the growth in traffic, we should reach 18 million passengers, or 3.5 million more.

But in reality, we have to divide it by two to know the number of individuals, because in our data, travelers are counted on departure and on arrival.

This will then be about 1.75 million more people.

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Regarding the origin of passengers, he says: “We also know that 30% of travelers come from our territory and that there are also a lot of frequent travelers, for business reasons for example.

So the extension is not made to welcome new tourists.

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He wants to emphasize that this extension project “does not relate to aircraft reception capacities”.

“We are not creating new tracks, there will not be more parking spaces.

Nothing will be done to bring in more planes,” he promises.

Before pressing: “in seven years, from 2012 to 2019, we calculated that the growth in traffic led to 29% more passengers, which corresponds to 3.5 million people.

In terms of more flights, it's actually 1,316 more movements [take-offs and landings].

He then imagines: “It's as if we were at school and where each year, one or two additional students were added to the class.

We simply want to enlarge the building to maintain the quality of service and allow travelers to board and disembark in good conditions”.

On the question of the CO2 emissions generated by this project, the spokesperson assures “not to be able to quantify them”.

A project "incompatible" with the country's commitments

The Citizens' Collective 06 believes that the airport's arguments are "lies".

He cites a study released in May 2022, commissioned by the Terres de Lutte association and carried out by BL Evolution, on "the incompatibility between the objectives of ecological transition and the reality on the ground".

The firm has analyzed 65 work projects in France, eight of which are incompatible with the country's environmental commitments.

And among them, the extension of Nice airport but also those of Marseille, Lille and Nantes.

Airy Chrétien recalls: “We were the forerunners at the national level in filing appeals and preventing this work, which completely contradicts the urgent need and the formal commitment to reduce our greenhouse gases.

It will take courage from the magistrates but it is an important decision.

If it is negative for us, it may be negative for Terminal 1 in Marseille.

This means that justice validates climaticide projects ”.

But he assures that he will not “stay there” and that he “will appeal if necessary”.

The continuation of this business within fifteen days.

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