Toulon-Hyères airport is still losing momentum

While Vinci airports published this Thursday, January 16, the increased figures for 2024 attendance at its airports in France and around the world – more than 318 million passengers, an increase of 3.7% compared to 2019 and 8 .5% compared to 2023 – the results of the year are once again negative for the Toulon-Hyères establishment operated by the subsidiary of the Vinci group since 2015. 292,047 passengers passed through it, a drop of 5.2% compared to 2023, when a decline in the number of travelers of almost 30% had already been noted. Except in 2022 when the Var airport came close to 430,000 passengers, the decline has been constant since 2019, a cumulative 42%.

“This decrease is largely explained by the drop in attendance of Parisians on the ORY line during the summer, due to the Olympic Games. Our objective today is to continue to work with the airlines on the one hand to develop traffic departing from the airport, trying to meet the needs of the Var and its inhabitants, and on the other hand continuing to be a gateway to supplying the local tourism industry.” indicates the company to Var-Matin.

Rentable

In an interview given last March, Nicolas Notebaert, president of Vinci Airports, however assured that the infrastructure was viable, with a turnover of €13.5 million in 2023, an increase of 9% since 2015. Which does not prevent local stakeholders from worrying, and also complaining, about the scarcity of flights, particularly to Paris. A few days ago, ASL Airlines announced the opening of a Lille/Toulon and Toulon/Algiers line from April 4. A real gamble, when we know that last summer, Transavia finally gave up the connection to the capital of Algeria initially planned from July, due to a lack of a sufficient volume of reservations.

But if most of Vinci airports' French airports record growth in the fourth quarter of 2024 and over the entire year (Chambéry, +22% in the 4th quarter compared to 2023 and +8.7% over the year for example), Toulon-Hyères is not the only one to drop out. Rennes also shows a decline of 14% in 2024 despite an increase of almost 5% in the fourth quarter. It remains to reverse the trend for the Var airport. Vinci airports assures that it wants “develop new destinations in close collaboration with airlines, with whom we maintain daily exchanges, and encourage the Varois to favor their local airport by expanding and consolidating our flight offering.”