True or false?

FALSE: let’s look at the 2012-2023 period. During those 11 years, passenger traffic increased by 29.7% in terminals 1 and 2, approximately 3 million passengers which is the same increase we hope to accommodate through the terminal 2 renovation work. During that same period, air traffic decreased, from 110,924 movements per year in 2012 to 107,404 in 2023, an average of 10 movements per day.

The reason is that air transport growth is largely due to low-cost airlines, which optimise the capacity of their aircraft, with models that are able to carry more passengers. It’s also worth noting that those airlines operate the most recent aircraft models, which generate fewer emissions. In the region of 2.5 L/100 km per seat. If passenger traffic continues to grow by 2 to 3% per year, there won’t be much of a change to air traffic, because the two trends are not correlated.

NOT STRICTLY TRUE: even if passenger volume continues to grow, “overtourism” is an overstatement. First, because 40% of passengers are local residents, who therefore have no impact on the volume of tourists. Next, frequent flyers account for 11% of the total traffic, and most of them travel for professional reasons. Those passengers are an asset in that they provide year-round business for the hotel industry.

Lastly, in keeping with the previous comment, the region’s strategy - which Nice Airport supports - is geared to reducing seasonal variations in air traffic, to keep tourism levels more constant throughout the year. In other words, although there is a rise in volume for the year as a whole, actual growth will mainly take place during the low season, which again benefits tourism infrastructure.
We might add that 70% of tourists travel to the French Riviera by car or train.

FALSE: this renovation work concerns an area that is already artificialised and partially built on. We might add that it doesn’t involve any work on aviation resources (aircraft parking areas, flight line, taxiway, etc.). It only concerns a building that takes up a ground surface area of 9,900 sq. m, an extension of an existing building on development-ready land.

TRUE: in addition to the environmental impact, which was calculated by an independent firm, the entire building site is subject to stringent rules to limit pollution. For example, an environment engineer checks that everyone working on the site complies with the environmental instructions.
An ecologist has also been assigned to the project. He monitors it from start to finish to make sure all rules and instructions are applied. One example is the rule that bans all noisy work and vibrating tools during the nesting season of the birds living in the Natura 2000 area of the Var plains. This requirement is strictly applied with zero exceptions.

NOT TRUE: when we talk about airport emissions, we need to consider those for which it is directly responsible. In other words, scopes 1 and 2: emissions generated by infrastructure, direct activities, employee commutes, and so on. For those 2 scopes, Aéroports de la Côte d’Azur embarked on a proactive decarbonisation programme back in the early 2010s. In 2020, the Group even pledged to achieve carbon neutrality without offsetting by 2030. To date, Nice Côte d’Azur Airport has already cut its emissions under its control by over 95%, by acting on various levers: green power supply from French sources, removal of gas boilers, energy savings, replacing as many combustion-powered vehicles as possible with electric vehicles, and so on.

As a result of all these ongoing efforts, the Group was the first in France to obtain Airport Carbon Accreditation (ACA) level 3+ in 2019, followed by ACA 4+ in 2022. That level recognises the fact that airports have drastically reduced their residual emissions, independently of passenger traffic, and that they also play a role in reducing the emissions of the air transport sector, even though such emissions are not part of scopes 1 and 2. It is therefore safe to say that, regardless of traffic level, Aéroports de la Côte d’Azur generates fewer and fewer greenhouse gases, and on top of that, it takes concrete action to reduce the emissions produced by the air transport sector.

TRUE: obviously, airports are not engine manufacturers, and they have limited room for manoeuvre when it comes to reducing the emissions of the air transport sector. However, there are ways in which they can help, and Aéroports de la Côte d’Azur does whatever it can, in all areas, to improve the carbon footprint of air travel.

For example, by banning the use of APUs during stopovers and requiring commercial and general aviation aircraft to connect to the power supply, airports can help reduce emissions and noise pollution.If these connections have already existed for many years for the Kilo area, where business planes park, and on the passengers’ bridges of commercial planes, during stopovers at terminals 1 and 2, they are now being deployed for remote aircraft stands. By 2026, these 67 stations will be equipped with electrical connections, making it possible to reduce full-year emissions by 6,700 tonnes of CO2. Another example: in 2020, Nice Côte d’Azur was labeled A-CDM (airport-collaborative decision making) by Eurocontrol. One of the benefits is the 9% reduction in aircraft taxiing time, i.e. a saving of 5,000 T eq. CO2.

Likewise, by working with the Service de la Navigation Aérienne (the French air traffic control agency) to determine more efficient flight paths, airports manage to reduce emissions generated during the landing and take-off (LTO) cycle, the most polluting phase of a plane journey. 

Lastly, by getting ready for the advent of new fuel types (SAF, hydrogen, electricity, etc.), promoting them and doing the groundwork to make sure these resources are available, airports play an important role in bringing future aviation to life, in a world less dependent on fossil fuels.

FALSE: this label was designed to meet the specific challenges of airports seeking to decarbonise their activities. It was established back in 2009, under the umbrella of ACI Europe, the organisation that represents European airports, and subsequently adopted by their counterparts across the globe. However, the label is awarded by WSP, one of the world’s leading engineering consulting firms, fully independently and after careful examination of applications.

So there are no grounds for claiming this label was designed by airports seeking to congratulate themselves for no real reason. There are actually not many airports in the world that have achieved the highest environmental standards required by this label.

PARTLY TRUE: airports cover a vast natural area where plants and animals can thrive thanks to lower levels of human interaction: no walking over land, no waste, and so on. As a result, they provide the conditions for a balanced ecosystem that regulates itself. Rabbits, foxes, snails, birds, and a host of different plant species, sometimes including rare and protected varieties. Aéroports de la Côte d’Azur works with the association Aéro Biodiversité, that helps it identify and protect the species found on its land. This concerted effort has led to some good practices that guarantee nature and the air transport sector continue to live harmoniously side by side.

In spring 2023, Golfe de Saint-Tropez Airport received the label issued by the association Aéro Biodiversité, which “endorses airports’ virtuous approach to defending and enhancing biodiversity, and at the same time making biodiversity-related challenges more widely known,” in the words of François Bouvier,who chairs the association’s scientific committee and is an honorary associate of the Natural History Museum.

FALSE: although we can’t work miracles, because technological and weather-related constraints come into play, working on approach and take-off trajectories to keep noise levels as low as possible for local residents is one of the top priorities for Aéroports de la Côte d’Azur.

In Nice for example, hardly any planes now fly over Antibes on the approach (around 16% of movements per year), though that used to be the favoured route, thanks to a lot of hard work with government services and airlines to set up a trajectory for bypassing the Cape of Antibes by flying off the coast. The same goes for take-off phases: since spring 2022, planes have been required to gain altitude more quickly, which reduces both their trajectories and emissions, and to cross the coastline at a minimum altitude of 2,100 metres, compared to 1,800 in the past, cutting noise pollution. For the record, planes cross the coastline at an altitude of 3,300 metres on average.

NOT STRICTLY TRUE: the punctuality of a flight depends on a whole set of measures and constraints, starting with the weather, which can affect both incoming and departing flights. If there are disruptions in Northern Europe, for instance, all flights heading for Nice Côte d’Azur that have to fly through the area concerned may be delayed. There may be technical issues affecting an airline or airport, which can again lead to delays to incoming flights, with a knock-on effect on departures.

As a result, the airport cannot guarantee the punctuality of flights, but when delays happen, we identify the cause. If responsibility lies with the airport, we call it DL 67.

For Nice Côte d’Azur, that accounts for less than 1% of flights. In other words, Nice Côte d’Azur does its job extremely well and complies with its obligations in terms of punctuality, largely through its organisation, which allows it to coordinate all players in real time: airport manager, airlines, ground-handling agents, partners, government services, and so on.

NOT STRICTLY TRUE: When you hand over your suitcases to an airline at the check-in desk, they are put onto a conveyor belt that takes them down to the airport basement. That’s where the airport manager comes into play, with 3 duties to perform: security - via security screening, where bags are scanned -, electronic sorting, which determines the bag’s route by reading the bar code on the label, and mechanical handling, which sends the bags off to the ground-handling agent. The latter, a subcontractor of the airline, takes delivery of the suitcase, puts it onto a trolley and is responsible for carrying it to the aircraft hold.

Here at Nice Côte d’Azur Airport, your suitcase spends no more than 6 minutes in the workings of the airport and in the hands of our staff. The ground-handling agent is in charge of getting it safely onto the plane or, for incoming flights, getting it onto the baggage reclaim conveyor belt. If your suitcase isn’t there, you need to contact the airline and its ground-handling agent, because the airport is not involved in the process.

NOT TRUE: of course, passengers going through a terminal have access to a variety of stores, catering options, clothing outlets, services, and so on. They are essential facilities that passengers expect, because a cup of coffee and a bottle of water are not their only needs.

Providing clean toilets free of charge, sockets for charging phones and computers, bright waiting areas, assistants, etc. all costs money, and only the airport fees, paid by airlines, are able to cover those costs. In order to offer the highest standards in terms of quality of service, we have to expand our sources of revenue while at the same time offering passengers a first-rate travel experience. Leaving with an affordable souvenir, gift or perfume is all part of the journey.