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1930 to1939: The birth of a business:
-Administration
-Improving the infrastructure
-The first air services
Administration:
Up until this time, Nice Flying-Club ran the aerodrome and was responsibile
for its upkeep. The Town Hall and the County Council subsidised
the latter. Then in 1934, the Town Hall bought the land from the
State, promising to respect its aeronautical vocation. In 1935,
the Municipal Council adopted new operations regulations for the
aerodrome and new user rates. On 3 September 1939, the land was
requisitioned by the Air Force.
Improving the infrastructure:
Most of the heavy work involved levelling off the ground. Work was
halted during the war. The facilities matched the needs of that
time: there were 2 fuel pumps, hangars for the two local flying-clubs
(Nice Flying-Club and the Riviera Flying-Club), weather equipment,
telegraphic equipment... plus a restaurant with bar!
The first air services:
A weekly postal service between Nice and Marseilles was set up as
early as 1928. In the summer of 1935, trials proceeded on a Nice-Bastia
route. The results proved satisfactory so the transporter, a company
called POTEZ, decided to renew the service the following summer,
in 1936. But the State, keen to protect the interests of the maritime
service operating on this route, intended to block the way. However,
pressure from the Chamber of Commerce, the Town Hall, and others,
eventually enabled POTEZ to obtain the necessary authorisation to
open a scheduled service on the route.
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The "Potez 56" form
the Nice-Corsica route |
Nice Airport could not keep pace with developing
traffic needs, so airlines looked towards Cannes:
- AIR FRANCE moved to Cannes as early as
1931, operating the Paris-Cannes and London-Cannes routes. The
national carrier didn't show any interest in Nice until 1938.
In 1925, as these earliest routes were first being set up, the
Nice Flying-Club decided to create an aircraft mechanics school.
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Some of the airport's
pioneers in the 1930s |
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