” Given the traffic “, the Center-East Air Navigation Service decided to reduce its activity at Saint-Etienne-Loire airport in early February. Following its losses, the infrastructure had been taken over by Saint-Etienne Métropole with, among others*, the Department at its side, via the mixed management syndicate over which the CCI originally had control. Chaired by Gaël Perdriau, the union created an operating management which put an end to loss-making commercial flights for him. He tries to give him occupations other than business flights (in particular those of ASSE), sanitary between quest for relevant lines and enhancement of available square meters. But the decision of the DGCA (General Directorate of Civil Aviation) is a blow…
No, Saint-Etienne-Loire airport will not be downgraded to an “aerodrome”. Quite simply because legally, this notion does not exist, informs us the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGAC), asked to know its intentions vis-à-vis the Loire infrastructure : “If current language tends to give two distinct meanings to the terms “aerodrome” and “airport” by relying implicitly on a criterion of size or level of service provided to users, these two designations actually designate exactly the same thing. »
Also for the DGAC, “the fairly widespread idea that an aerodrome is a small structure whereas an airport is a larger one has no legal basis. Regulatory speaking, an aerodrome corresponds to “any land or body of water specially equipped for the landing, take-off and maneuvering of aircraft”. (L. 6300-1 of the transport code). However, the term “airport” is not defined by law. » Legally speaking, Saint-Etienne airport is therefore already only an aerodrome…
ASSE travel impacted?
Until January 2022, the Centre-Est Air Navigation Service provided air traffic control there 7 days a week, from 8 a.m. (or from 9 a.m. on weekends) to 9 p.m. Many time extensions were made to accommodate late flights in particular related to ASSE travel or otherwise medical flights. Corn “Given the weakness and type of current traffic, the number of checkpoints is down and the opening periods were reduced at the beginning of February 2022, i.e. opening from Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. opening weekend with advance notice for commercial flights only. »
At the same time, specifies the DGAC, the operator has embarked on an AFIS certification process2 which would allow it to continue to accommodate business flights, medical evacuation and those of ASSE “at late hours that he wishes to maintain in the field and for which the DSNA (Directorate of Air Navigation Services, attached to the DGAC, Editor’s note) will no longer be able to carry out air traffic control on a systematic basis. The various projects mentioned by the joint syndicate (business aviation, charter, regular line, etc.), if they were to see the light of day, could be accommodated under good conditions by an AFIS which, moreover, would be better able to adapt to the schedules of these flights that the DSN . »
A letter sent by Gaël Perdriau to the Minister of Transport
Our intervention with the DGAC to have it reconsider this decision was not followed by any response.
Saint-Etienne Metropolis
Contacted by our editorial staff to provide a full update on the situation at the airport, the presidency of the union led by that of Saint-Etienne Métropole did not wish to follow up on this request. However, it reacted to the information sent to us by the DGAC. She denounces a “unilateral decision which now imposes a notice for each “unscheduled” flight disrupting the operation of the airport. Our intervention with the DGAC to have it reconsider this decision was not followed by any response. » Hence a letter sent directly by Gaël Perdriau to the Minister of Transport Jean-Baptiste Djebbari.
In 2017, Saint-Etienne-Loire airport still saw just over 104,000 passengers pass through, but with an operating deficit of €1.78 million. In 2018, with the closure of the last of the low-cost lines that had been making the airport’s international traffic since the 2000s (to Portugal, Tunisia, Morocco or Turkey), their number fell to 4,179 for a operating deficit of €925,317. In 2020, the year when the pandemic weighed the most on air traffic, there were 18,373 movements (- 25% less than in 2019), and 3,387 passengers (- 40%) for therefore no commercial flight.
Are commercial flights still possible?
By way of comparison, the airports of Clermont-Ferrand and Grenoble, which suffer much less from the proximity of Saint-Exupéry, transited in 2020, despite the Covid, respectively 114,494 and 207,538 passengers for 2,216 and 2,849 commercial flights according to departmental statistics. Committed to a process of enhancing the outdoor spaces and square meters available following an audit leading to the establishment of companies (for example, the start-up Eenuee and its electric plane project reported by our colleagues from Progrès) , or on specific ground or leisure activities, the union has not, however, given up on commercial flights. The idea would be to fill rail gaps in the West or South-West of France, or even again in the direction of foreign countries, indicated Gaël Perdriau in the columns of Rise in June.
1 In addition to Métropole and the Department, the Smasel (Joint Syndicate of Saint-Etienne Loire Airport) is made up of the Lyon Métropole Saint-Étienne Roanne CCI, the Loire Forez conurbation and the Forez Est community of communes.
2 Aerodrome Flight Information Service (AFIS): an agent that provides flight information and alerting service.