Development and studies

To contribute to the development of businesses on the Riviera, the Nice Côte d’Azur Chamber of Commerce & Industry has invested considerably with its partners to make Nice Côte d’Azur a world-class airport. In less than 20 years, its facilities have practically doubled. The Airport has changed radically, largely contributing to altering the profile of the local economy. In 2004, L’Arénas-Airport complex generates 6.67 billion euros in economic fallout for the département: a windfall for tourism and for business; the emergence in the Region of new scientific and technologic activities has completely changed the profile of the Airport’s clientele, making it into a genuine business airport. But above all, this international facility is in the service of the entire population and all the enterprises of the French Riviera.

The French Riviera: one of the top Regions in Europe for hosting major professional events

Convention activity, with three main sites - Nice, Cannes and Monaco - makes the French Riviera one of the top regions in Europe for hosting major professional events. In addition to the Cannes Film Festival there are other events like Tax Free, MIDEM, MIPIM, Forum Imagina, MIP-TV, MILIA... and all year round, conventions and meetings in different areas: medical, IT, telecoms... The Airport has been instrumental in the development of the Sophia-Antipolis Science Park, with a total of over 25,000 managerial and engineering jobs, 600 jobs for researchers, 1,500 students, for a total of 981 firms. The location in the Alpes-Maritimes of many foreign companies, from the US in particular (IBM, Digital...), would never have been possible without an airport offering so many international flights. The economic impact study conducted in 2004 revealed the Airport’s economic role in the development of the Alpes-Maritimes. This study by the Observatoire Économique des Alpes-Maritimes Sirius uses a methodology developed by the ACI (Airports Council International) for a decade and used by the great European airports. It can measure and analyse the economic and employment repercussions on the region of an airport.

Although other airports group all their services in a well defined site, Nice Côte d’Azur has the specificity of providing continuity in its aeronautics facilities, L’Arénas activity area which hosts related activities like hotels and regional headquarters of airlines. These activities should be included in the overall analysis of the facility.

A study conducted by the ACI Europe in 1998 shows that the presence of an airport results in the creation for its region of 4,000 jobs per million passengers:

Direct Impact = Wage Bill + Investments + Consumption + Local taxation of corporations and organizations in L’Arénas-Airport complex.

Indirect Impact = Offsite activities resulting from the use of airport infrastructures.

It corresponds to the expenses of 2 152 966 non-resident visitors in the Alpes-Maritimes in 2004. Taking into account the average daily expenses and the average number of nights per visitor provides:

Induced Impact = multiplier effect of direct and indirect impacts (repercussions on the local economy)

A multiplier coefficient applied to the sum of direct and indirect impacts helps estimate the revenues generated downstream by economic players receiving a share of the revenues generated by Direct and Indirect Impact.

The coefficient for measuring the driving effect on the rest of the local economy was estimated at 2.6 for the Nice Côte d’Azur Airport. Applied to the sum of the Direct and Indirect Impacts, it implies: