Nantes (AFP)

"Liar!", "Betrayal!", "Charlots!": The opening public meeting on the redevelopment project of the Nantes-Atlantique airport, on the table after the abandonment of the Notre-Dame-des- Landes, began Tuesday in an electric atmosphere.

"Transfert! Transfert!" Chanted a voice in the packed hall of Nantes where 450 people gathered for the public consultation for the redevelopment of the airport, planned until 31 July.

From the first speeches, the participants waved, applauding or hugging the speakers according to the orientation of their remarks. Many of them came to reiterate their willingness to transfer the airport, an idea abandoned after the renunciation of the Notre-Dame-des-Landes project by the State, on January 17, 2018.

"We have already given our opinion, 55% of yes" during the local consultation, has blown a citizen, strongly applauded by the room, in a feverish atmosphere.

"I know the bitterness that results, the disappointment that results," said Claude d'Harcourt, the prefect of Loire-Atlantique, constantly harangued during his speech.

The current public consultation, started on May 27 and supervised by the National Commission for Public Debate (CNDP), must "bring the project to light and answer questions raised by the public, ensure everyone the opportunity to express themselves, provide a framework for reasoned debates between the stakeholders of the territory, collect their observations and proposals ", according to the prefecture.

A collective of residents in favor of the transfer of Nantes-Atlantique, the collective of the citizens exposed to the air traffic (COCETA), deposited the 21 May a referral before the Council of State to suspend the concertation: it estimates that its perimeter is too restricted .

Five scenarios are on the table of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGAC), project owner of this redevelopment project of Nantes-Atlantique, estimated at 500 million euros: creation of a new track, change of 'orientation or lengthening ... But not a transfer, become taboo.

The airport concession, managed by Vinci, is to be renewed in 2021 against a background of exponential development: air traffic, with more than 6.2 million passengers in 2018, is expected to increase to 9.4 million in 2030, or even 11 , 4 million in 2040, according to the growth assumptions of the DGAC.

? 2019 AFP