Lyon-Saint Exupéry airport will offer more than 100 destinations to travelers this year, including 9 noveltiesand reports a dynamic recovery in traffic with a summer considered promising at sea.
Initiated last summer, the recovery in traffic at Lyon airport was accentuated during the winter holidays (+69% of seats offered compared to the same month last year), a trend which is also continuing in March. Sustained activity is expected for the coming months, and in particular this summer 2022 (+75% seats offered compared to summer 2021). The airport explains in a press release that it “works alongside airlines to meet passenger needs” and is greatly increasing its offer of destinations: “there will be more than 100 departing from Lyon-Saint Exupéry (compared to 80 in 2021 , 40 in 2020), in 34 different countries and operated by 42 airlines. Long-haul routes such as Montreal, Dubai, and those to global hubs in London, Dublin, Munich or Vienna, have reopened.
The summer therefore looks promising “and the airlines are confident”, with the opening of 9 new destinations compared to 2019: Larnaca (Cyprus), Dakar (Senegal), Santorini and Kos (Greece), Reunion, Kayseri (Turkey), Bari (Italy), Krakow (Poland) and Belgrade (Serbia). 25 new lines will be inaugurated, and 7 airlines are newly welcomed at the airport: TUS Airways, FLYOne Armenia, Air Montenegro, Air Senegal, AnadoluJet, Air Serbia and ASL.
The activity fret, which has held up well over the past two years, remains “dynamic” with an increase of +7% in 2021 vs 2020 on air freight, and +8% on all-cargo freight “which even exceeds its 2019 level of 3%”. The arrival of Qatar Airways in Lyon with its dedicated flight contributed to these good results. For 2022, TNT will operate 5 new flights per week in Boeing 737.
The health crisis has not dampened the ambitions of VINCI Airports at Lyon airport, which invests in new projects “allowing the improvement of the experience of its passengers and the achievement of its environmental ambitions”. The renovation of Terminal 2which should run until 2024, “will improve the energy performance of the building, optimize the customer experience with the overhaul of the filtering inspection stations, the reorganization and diversification of the commercial offer and catering, and the reorganization of waiting and boarding areas, but also to bring into compliance and improve the baggage sorting system (BHS)”.
During the Terminal 2 works period, activity will be transferred to Terminal 1. Arrangements have been made on the Terminal 1 satellite to accommodate this traffic transfer: creation of 2 aircraft stands and of 2 boarding loungesimprovement of ambient elements and development of new offices for the displaced airlines.
The new P3 car park will be put into service in mid-May to offer 2,000 spaces opposite Terminal 1. It will meet VINCI Airports’ environmental requirements for its airports, by operating in self-consumption thanks to its 7,000 m² of photovoltaic roof. The electrical energy produced, which exceeds the needs of the car park, will also supply other facilities at the airport.
From April 12, 2022: Transfer to T1 of company flights Volotea, Vueling, Brussels Airlines, Lufthansa, TAP Air Portugal, Iberia, Eurowings and Austrian Airlines. From May 31, it will be the turn ofAir France-KLM, Corsair, Chalair and TwinJet to move to T1.
As part of VINCI Airports’ “ambitious environmental policy”, Lyon airport is continuing and strengthening its action plan to reduce CO2 emissions at most. Since 2016, thanks mainly to the use of 100% green electricity, 50% biogas for heating, and the opening of Terminal 1 HQE, these emissions have been halved to reach less than 2,000 tonnes in 2021. To continue this reduction, the airport plans in particular to install a 3ha photovoltaic park for self-consumption, to increase the share of biogas to 100% and to renovate Terminal 2. Residual emissions from the airport (500 tons / year in 2026) will be sequestered locally, with a first reforestation project near the airport in partnership with the ONF and the Rhône Department, which will also help to preserve biodiversity on the territory.
The manager of Lyon-Saint Exupéry declared: “apart from our own actions, one of the objectives for 2022 will be to continue to lead the entire airport ecosystem towards decarbonizationnotably through the modulation of landing fees encouraging airlines to equip themselves with less emissive aircraft, or the installation of electric charging stations for the vehicles of platform personnel. Thanks to all of these actions, Lyon airport will be the first French airport to achieve, by 2026, zero net CO2 emissionson the perimeter of the company”.
VINCI Airports has also chosen Lyon airport as a pilot site to decarbonize aviation via hydrogen. A hydrogen station will be installed on the platform from 2023 to supply light commercial vehicles and part of the parking shuttles, in partnership with the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region. Then, as part of a partnership with Airbus and Air Liquide, the airport plans to install a gaseous green hydrogen distribution station for heavy mobility in 2024 – 2025. The objective being, beyond of 2030, the deployment of the infrastructures for the production, storage and distribution of liquid green hydrogen necessary for the use of this new energy on the ground and on board aircraft.
To support the recovery, a hundred jobs are to be filled within the companies present on the platform. Lyon airport “is a key player for its region, particularly through employment”: on 14 April at the Meyzieu Trades Forum, the airport is organizing a job dating campaign with 108 vacancies across all companies present on the platform, in various fields: catering, security, sales, freight, stopover and runway. A second meeting will be scheduled in May.
©Vinci Airports