Except for route announcements, it’s all quiet on the Bergerac Airport front at present. The reason? The airport is undergoing a bidding process for the management contract to run the airport and the competition is at its height, according to Emily James, head of marketing and route development.
“We expect a decision in the autumn to allow implementation from 1 January 2020,” James explains. However, in her own domain, she has plenty of activity.
“Jet2 has added services to Birmingham this year and will be adding flights to London Stansted in 2020. The carrier may open another route next year. Negotiations are continuing and we hope that will come through,” James reports.
French regional carrier Chalair is the other airline to have recently added routes to the Bergerac network. “They are flying to Lyon and to Nice with ATR 42s,” notes James. “Adding Chalair takes us to six scheduled airlines alongside Ryanair, Flybe, British Airways, Jet2 and Transavia.”
Whoever takes over the management contract should be in for good news as James expects passenger figures this year to reach just under 300,000, an increase of 13% on the previous calendar year.