Bordeaux Airport fills the void left by Ryanair and wants to open new destinations

With the announced closure of the Ryanair air base from October 27, 2024 and the departure of the low-cost airline, Bordeaux airport must deal with the cancellation of 39 lines departing from its tarmac, including 20 destinations.

But we know, nature abhors a vacuum and other companies have already positioned themselves to replace the abandoned lines, like Transavia, which announced on June 25 the opening of six new routes from Bordeaux (five of which were abandoned by the Irish company).

Ryanair’s departure, a breath of fresh air

” It was clearly an opportunityrecognizes Nicolas Henin, sales director of Transavia France. When a major player withdraws, it opens doors.

This low-cost subsidiary of the Air France-KLM group has thus recovered “destinations which have already reached maturity” thanks to Ryanair: Porto, Marseille, Marrakech, Seville et Agadir. Similarly, Volotea has taken over Marrakech and Madrid.

“We are keen to recover a large part of the destinations first,” responds Bordeaux news Cyrielle Clément, the head of development of the Bordeaux airport lines. First those that were only provided by Ryanair. On the others, we are busy studying which would be the most suitable to resume.

According to her, demand is strong in the British, Spanish, Moroccan and Italian markets. “In one year, it is unable to cover the entire passenger volume but we can meet demand less frequently,” the manager continues.

Airport targets new destinations

In addition to replacing Ryanair, Bordeaux airport is targeting new destinations. Discussions are currently underway with Finnair and SAS to develop Scandinavia where strong commercial potential has been identified.

“We are also trying to develop Egyptwhich is quite fashionable. We look towards the Middle East. Tel Aviv was a destination that we were actively looking for but we dropped it given the current situation. In the coming years, we would like to offer Dubai or Doha,” explains Cyrielle Clément.

Also, the commercial success of the connection to Montreal has given ideas to Bordeaux airport, which dreams of a direct connection to New York. “There is a very strong demand in both directions,” notes the manager. “The Americans are very fond of Bordeaux and our wine. There is little doubt that they would come.”

Shanghai, the Marseille example

The delivery delays by Airbus on an aircraft model suitable for this type of connection force us to wait a little longer. In the same spirit, Shanghai is a path being studied over the next three to four years.

Starting July 2, Shanghai Airlines is opening a line between the Chinese city and Marseille. Bordeaux airport will follow the commercial debut closely. “After that, it’s scalable. We adapt very quickly. It all depends on geopolitics, pandemics, economic hazards… The current elections can have a big influence too, for example.”

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