1918 to1929: The Airport project takes off:

- 1918: Postal service trials between Nice and Corsica
- 1919: Auguste MAICON flies under the bridge across the Var
- 1925-29: Decision to build an airport

In its earliest days, aviation was used to transport letters. A postal service operated between the port of Nice and Corsica from as early as 1918. The carrier was a seaplane, an aircraft that seemed to have a bright future ahead of it and thus attracted the attention of development researchers.
But this attempt came to nothing, and the route was very soon closed down.

At the very beginning of the 1920s, "air displays" caught the public's interest more than the development of routes. The pilot Auguste MAÏCON kept spectators in Nice on the edge of their seats. He was 18 years old at the time of the 1910 air show, and it proved to be a veritable revelation for him. On year later, he passed his pilot's license. He initiated people into the joys of flying in his own biplane, and used the money for its upkeep.

This intrepid young man was driven by a thirst for achievement:

- He wanted to do things that had never been managed before. In 1912, he was the first to fly over Paillon and land in Contes; the following year, he flew over the carnival parade one night.

But MAÏCON is especially remembered for his prodigious flights under the bridge across the Var. His aircraft measured 14 metres wide and 4 metres tall. The arch under the bridge was 20 metres wide and 6 metres tall. He carried out this feat successfully several times and on 24 August 1919 had a reporter in the passenger seat.

In 1921, he introduced the people of Nice to a new form of entertainment:

-parachute jumping in front of a crowd of 70,000 spectators. MAÏCON also made his mark on the history of aviation in Nice; he created a private passenger airline company.

But he was a difficult character, and this prevented his enterprise from really taking off. Nevertheless, we are indebted to him for having provoked the transformation of the Californie airfield into a veritable aerodrome. He died anonymously in 1974 in Frejus.

MAÏCON had kept aeronautical passion and the myth of the pilot alive. Nice was the setting for a series of air shows (in 1922, 1930 and 1932), partly subsidised by local representatives:

- the County Council, the Town Hall and the Chamber of Commerce.

The airfield covered approximately 15 hectares:

- 750 meters running along the sea, 70 metres on the eastern side, 240 metres on the western side - where it literally rubbed shoulders with the hippodrome's training track - and 750 metres to the north. It had a grass runway measuring 700 metres.

Nice flying-club had a hangar in which it housed its few aircraft and it was responsible for the upkeep of the airfield and its infrastructure. Subsidies were granted by the municipality and the County Council.

The Californie airfield in 1925

At the time, airports had little impact on a region's prosperity. So although the County Council, the Town Hall and the Chamber of Commerce continued to subsidise the airport, they were more preoccupied at the time with the development of other modes of transport more in line with the needs of the population.

Then gradually, air travel became a means of transport to be reckoned with. The Air Ministry launched projects to build various aerodromes with the site in Nice being officially recognised in 1929.
From this date, Chambers of Commerce began managing airports as concession holders. The first case was Lyon-Bron airport.