An Airbus A320 from the airline EasyJet here on the tarmac at Rennes airport, March 26, 2018. - C. Allain / 20 Minutes

  • After several years of double-digit growth, Rennes airport saw its traffic fall last year.
  • The director of the airport explains this air gap by the general context unfavorable to air transport and to Air France's decision to drastically reduce its offer on the domestic network.
  • The president of Adarb points to “the total lack of anticipation” of the two shareholders.

After a good flight marked by several years of double-digit growth, Rennes airport stalled in 2019. With 852,000 passengers carried last year, its traffic fell by 0.6% over one year. Airport manager Gilles Tellier is not overly concerned about this recorded air gap. For him, this is a “turbulence phenomenon” which is partly explained by the difficulties of Air France and its subsidiary Hop! which has decided to drastically reduce its offer on the domestic network.

In Rennes, this resulted last year in the elimination of links to Brussels and Strasbourg, and the reduction in the frequency of flights to Marseille. "There is also a general context of chilliness in the sector with a period of" bashing "which the airline has to face", continues Gilles Tellier.

"A total lack of anticipation" on the part of the two shareholders

President of the association for the development of Rennes-Bretagne airport (Adarb), Hervé Cavalan has a much harder time digesting this drop in traffic. "This halt is quite scandalous because the goal of a million passengers was easily achievable this year," he carried away.

"#Rennes is a sleeping beauty," said François Bacchetta, general manager of @ EasyJet France a few months ago, about the # Rennes airport.

We are waiting for new orange lines to wake him up then 😌 pic.twitter.com/svZfy5P7WH

- Rennes➕ (@Rennesplus) November 5, 2019

He denounces "the total lack of anticipation" of Vinci and the chamber of commerce and industry, the two shareholders of the airport, who "did not manage to diversify the offer of companies". Gilles Tellier denies it, indicating that the airport offers a range of "rather flattering" companies with the presence of Vueling, Volotea or even EasyJet.

Takeoff for Frankfurt with Lufthansa in Spring

Arriving in spring 2018, the British low cost company is also ramping up in Rennes with already connections to Lyon, Geneva and Nice and a takeoff scheduled for Toulouse from March 31. On that date, the Rennes airport will also welcome the Lufthansa company which will operate three connections per week to Frankfurt, the fourth largest European airport with its 70.5 million passengers.

What are the airport shareholders waiting for to invest the reserves accumulated over the last 10 years, which are around 3.8M €, in the installation of a base of 2 or 3 planes with ten new lines, and full of jobs at stake ?

- ADARB Rennes Aéroport (@adarb_rennes) January 13, 2020

Gilles Tellier wants to see there “a major turning point in the development of the airport” and the sign that it remains “attractive” for the airlines. "But it remains under-exploited when it has an incredible development potential", replies Hervé Cavalan, blaming the two shareholders "who sacrificed the investment for the benefit of the remuneration of the shareholders".

Rennes

Rennes airport will be closed all March for work

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Lufthansa opens a route to Frankfurt, "a major turning point" for Rennes airport

  • Easyjet
  • Plane
  • Airline company
  • Airport
  • Air traffic