Nice Côte d'Azur passenger traffic grows driven by international flights

In July and August, 3.46 million passengers passed through Terminals 1 and 2 at Nice Côte d'Azur airport, including a record number of passengers on Friday 2 August (63,041).

“The fleets arriving in our terminals are mainly made up of the latest  aircraft, and are almost 86% full. There is therefore still room for improvement. These are important drivers for reducing the environmental impact of a transport method that is essential for opening up our region,” says Franck Goldnadel, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Aéroports de la Côte d'Azur. “With traffic achieving levels close to those of summer 2019, we have recovered our momentum, but our facilitiess are reaching saturation levels. This is often problematic despite the efforts of our teams. We hope that the ongoing work to upgrade Terminal 2 will make it possible to welcome visitors to the French Riviera with facilities that are more in line with our region’s needs, once the work is completed next summer.”

The 21 new routes, including 12 new destinations, launched for the 2024 summer season are contributing to this growth in summer traffic. With a record number of 13 long-haul routes, including 7 to North America and 6 to the Gulf states, the airport has strengthened its position as the gateway to the French Riviera for foreign visitors. These direct, low-emission routes are operated by wide-body aircraft, optimising the number of visitors compared to the number of aircraft movements.

Passenger traffic to and from the United States rose by 44.1% compared to 2023. The airport now serves 4 destinations including a new one, Philadelphia. Passenger traffic to and from Canada rose by 22.9%, with an increase in the number of weekly flights.

As for the Gulf states, Saudi Arabia saw traffic rise by 120.2%, while Qatar increased its traffic by 60.7% and the United Arab Emirates by 17.4%.

Europe still accounts for most of passenger traffic and is driving growth, with Nice Côte d'Azur airport handling many travellers who have no real alternative for getting there. This growth has been boosted by new routes, Spain (>34% of passengers), Greece (>32%) and Italy (>11%) accounting for the top three.

The French market alone accounts for 22% of business. However, it has fallen by 10.2% compared to 2023.

With 11 new routes already announced, the schedule for the upcoming winter season is looking significantly more robust than last year, confirming the region's strategy of promoting a year-round tourist season.

What's new? :

• easyJet will be operating flights toAgadir, Lanzarote, Madrid, Prague, Rovaniemi et Strasbourg
• Transavia France is launching a long-haul route to Dakar
• Air Serbia will connect Nice to Belgrade
• Eurowings will connect the region to Bonn/Cologne
• Twin Jet is extending its summer service to Toulouse
• Wizz Air is extending its summer route to Tirana

Nice Côte d'Azur Airport's winter schedule now includes 76 destinations (compared to 71 last year), to 35 countries (compared to 32) operated by 41 airlines.