Barbara was not suggesting free tapas and wine .....just suggesting that the airport could be put to multi usage and not to be looked like a bus stop but a spot to meet .
Bond Hilary...would Timothy Dalton be suitable.
Thank you Andrew for admitting that something works apart from Le boncoin.
I must admit i'm a bit shocked to read this.......especially as it has had money spent on it not so long ago....Perhaps things will improve in terms of traffic when the exchange rate with the pound, returns to the levels that we had in 2007....
I'm sure it could deal with more capacity from the budget airlines.....when I have flown via Bergerac, it seems to be just Ryanair and (Flybe ?)...and Ryanair just offers 2 departure times each day.....
I don't know whether there are rules governing further flights in or out of Bergerac, but if there are they need to be looked at... I can't believe that it can't be made more profitable..
Looking at travelling from London area, I think it would be great if some of the traffic from the London City airport that run flights to Brive, could be diverted to Bergerac.....which is close to larger centres like Bordeaux...where do business people who end up in Brive go to ?
What else could it offer ? What about a good airport hotel & restaurant complex(with creche, swimming pool, healthclub & a few shops)/ business conference centre, with hot seating IT facilities....?
I have used Bordeaux also to go back to the UK as well, but that I found to be really unpleasant experience.....terrible booking in and security facilities ( one had to heave baggage around the perimeter of a huge room from one table to the next (not mechanised at all) and baggage including my nice, new, unscratched, laptop, manhandled and bashed about by staff.Really, badly, over -crowded, with pedantic staff member, who insisted that my on-board travel bag was too big (one that I had used from Bergerac with no trouble) and who wanted to force it (containing aforementioned lap-top), into the metal size guide!
On top of that if one gets the train to Bordeaux, you still have to get a cab/ bus to the airport, which is more hassle and not particularly cheap.
I think Barabara's idea of free tapas & a glass of wine would be a winner, if it was combined with some really good advertising...featuring somebody well known (Bond ?)...humor...and a calm voice-over, drawing attention to the facilities and easy, hassle free experience, great transport links......
Barbara, you seem to be refusing the hard facts put in front of you. Nobody's saying nothing works in France, I run a successful 100% French business, have recently taken someone on full time on a CDI. Things do work here but you need to be realistic. No small cafe/bar/shop would ever generate enough to survive in a small airport, let alone produce over a million to keep the airport afloat. Not being negative, just realistic - better that way, it avoids ruin and big, big problems later on! ;-)
The tobac shop " idea" was not serious.
I am disappointed to hear constantly from so many people here that
nothing works.....and yet I see and hear different.
France is being painted as a disaster and it is not!
To arrive at the airport a half an hour before time could be
pleasant ;a glass of wine, a tapas of something tasty could bring a crowd
to the airport. What else...well maybe bike hire, tea shop selling speciality cake...
maybe English cakes baked by decent bakers....tea for sale....speciality,
There is no way we should give up.
We have a Dutch pilot friend who sometimes visits. He does not and has never flown with or for Ryanair but is with Transavia, however has never flown the Bergerac route. He gets free flights so that he can visit his sister in Agen, so he sometimes stops off for a coffee on the way there. His view is that Bergerac airport is too small to develop so it can never really expand and meet the ambitions of the department. He commented on the pile of money thrown at it as a tourist pull but not an important work like improving air traffic controls which he thinks are OK but will not serve the new generation of planes well. I am not at all technical and have no idea what he means beyond repeating what he says.
He mainly flies the Rotterdam to Faro route and said that that airport is limited despite being bigger and with expansion possibilities, in fact he said that a new runway has been planned there. It has five and a half million passengers a year, therefore it has the income and regional investment would help, especially with air freight traffic increased. Bergerac has no apparent runway development possibilities and Bordeaux already has a good freight capacity so there is little chance. In fact, he once said that Bordeaux should have a decent link bus service between there and Perigueux via Bergerac, plus a better rail link and a few more trains, which given the generally better flights and facilities would pay off.
It is only a pilot's opinion, but perhaps he has some good ideas being in the business or knows what we don't know and is not saying. He did at one stage nearly let slip saying something about if he ever had to rely on Nantes or Paris to get here, but stopped short of saying anything else. Perhaps there is more than meets the eye and Barbara has picked on that.
"There are more than 2 flights a day!" Not today there wasn't.
http://www.aqui.fr/economies/il-manque-240-000-euros-pour-financer-l-aeroport-de-bergerac,11046.html
I think this explains the predicament of Bergerac airport. Caught between the wishes of the Chamber of Commerce and the rules against cross subsidies between the state and enterprise imposed by EU regulation. The whole thing confused by the possible changes to départements and the joining of départements into a new region. Essentiallly it wouldn't matter what one doe's regarding the services at Bergerac. You might have a very nice restaurant, better facilities in the departure loungea duty free shop. Whatever Bergerac is basically a bus stop. A very convenient bus stop and for Ryanair perhaps a profit centre.I doubt they would be in Bergerac otherwise especially as I believe they get a subsidy for "marketing " reasons from the various local governments/organisatons. Allowing the bus stop analogy the airport is doing OK. The sort of scuttlebut that Barbara reports certainly does'n't do the airport any favours.In my experience any airport is something to be endured rather than enjoyed although I do remember as a child of the Fifties London Heathrow was a tourist attraction.
keep an eye on the local presse, listen to local radio - a couple of examples here and here although they date to last autumn. looks like it's losing money hand over fist - as I've already said, these small airports can only survive on subsides, once the département or région is no longer willing to pay, that could be the end of the airport... :-(
not a tabac - there are rules and regulations which prevent that plus it'd never survive the winter period. There were two arrivals and two departures today all within a 3 hour slot - that way the douanes and other staff only need to be there/airport only needs to be open for about 5 hours - I can't see anyone making a living out of that, pure economics :-(
There are more than 2 flights a day!
It could end up being a busy bar.....maybe a tobac shop too.
exactly, and most of these small regional airports are a non-starter, they only work because the cci funds them and pays ryanair to fly there...! :-O
"A bar would be brilliant income for the airport finances" not if it is relying on a couple of Ryanair flights a day!
I agree. It seems that there is a fear of progress.
A bar would be brilliant income for the airport finances.
But the café could improve.
Why would it be so bad to make a little garden or patio area
so that people get there a little earlier and relax.
The shop could be better.
Some piped music... not too loud.
Perhaps a bike rental place or an immobilier.
Little area for business people....small office size and they
can pay to go in to make faxes/ and in general have a place to
take care of half an hours business.
I believe it is under new management .....
oh dear.
local conversation.
They have spent some money yes....but it needs some oxygen.
They have only just finished spending a shedload of money on it...
Where did you see this info Barbara?
Airport Bergerac doing ok folksâŠ
In spite of every ounce of doom and gloom.
Just used it for a weekend trip, lovely friendly staff. Very wasted opportunity in the departures lounge - what an opportunity for tourists to buy some wine or pates to take back to the UK once theyâve passed through security and the liquid/plastic bag check. A small concession in that departures lounge could make them some good money as thereâs nothing else, apart from vending machines, to spend money on.