Nice-Côte d’Azur Airport: Administrative Court approves Terminal 2 extension

The 25,000 m2 extension should enable passengers to “benefit from the best passenger experience and safety conditions”.

At the end of the hearing on 19 September, the Marseille Administrative Court ruled in favour of the extension at Nice-Côte d’Azur airport. The 25,000 m2 extension includes the addition of two buildings to Terminal 2. Six new boarding gates will be created.

According to the airport’s press release, the Court stated that “the project does not have the effect of increasing air traffic significantly and with certainty”, thereby rejecting the environmental organisations’ objections. According to the ruling, the increase in passenger numbers “will essentially be allowed by continually optimising the aircraft load rate and increasing the capacity of aircraft”, not by increasing the number of aeroplanes that use the airport.

The airport stresses that 36% of passengers are residents and 24% are frequent (often business) flyers, “which contradicts the idea of “over-tourism” by limiting the number of new travellers to less than one million”. It also underlines its good environmental record, citing its commitment in 2020 to achieve neutrality without offset before 2030 (including the Terminal 2 extension project in its calculations).

14.5 million passengers in 2019

Although the airport’s theoretical maximum capacity is 14 million passengers, it is often exceeded, as in 2019 when it reached 14.5 million. The Terminal 2 extension is expected to increase the airport’s theoretical capacity to 18 million passengers.

This will allow for better passenger comfort and safety, but also, in the event of a new wave of Covid-19, make it easier to enforce health measures.