Paris-Vatry fast becoming ghost airport
Air Freight Focus
Just over a decade since it was launched by Marne Council as a complementary gateway to Paris Roissy-CDG for air freight traffic, Paris-Vatry is facing growing criticism that it is fast becoming a burden on the public purse.
Last year, Paris-Vatry lost its two biggest freight operators, DHL and Avient, and the airport’s state-of-the-art facilities and 100 staff are significantly under-employed.
Marne Council has sunk an estimated €220m (US$304m) into the airport and the return on investment, in terms of jobs created (1,100, when the site’s road transport and logistics activities are added) and the impact on the regional economy, has fallen well short of the objectives set.
Tensions on the council are apparent, with some members describing the airport project as extravagant, ill-conceived, over-ambitious and a costly mistake.
Avient, which brought in around 70% of Paris-Vatry turnover, left suddenly and acrimoniously in September for Liège, with Paris-Vatry’s operating company, SEVE, claiming the cargo airline had not settled bills totalling €1.5m. The dispute is now likely to end up in court.
In December, SEVE chief executive Youssef Sabeh stepped down. But the company has quashed any link with the airport’s current difficulties, saying Sabeh had initially been set to quit at the end of 2008, but decided to stay on longer in the light of the growing economic crisis.
Marne Council is injecting €7m of fresh capital into SEVE to bolster cash flow and offset any threat of insolvency, and this is expected to see the operator through this year and next.
Council leader René-Paul Savary defends the airport’s record so far, stressing that it is at an intermediate stage in its development. However, he admits, “all options as to Paris-Vatry’s future are being considered”, including a sale.
His first deputy at the council, Charles-Amédée de Courson, highlights Paris-Vatry’s assets: ultra-modern facilities and infrastructure; France’s third longest civil runway (3,860 metres); 24-hour opening; and considerable land reserves for further development.
He believes the time has come to sell the air and road hub, possibly to one of Europe’s bigger airport operators, and negotiate, as part of the deal, the development of activities such as flight training, aircraft maintenance and other civil and military aviation-related activities.
Long before the economic slowdown took hold, Paris-Vatry had fallen well short of its traffic growth objectives. After a decade of activity, it was projected to be handling 150,000 tonnes of air freight annually. Its high point of 42,000 tonnes came in 2008 and last year’s traffic will probably show a decline to around 20,000 tonnes. If this downward trend continues, it could slump to fewer than 6,000 tonnes this year.
Sabeh’s successor as head of SEVE, Gilles Darriau, will be hard-pressed to arrest the slide, unless Paris-Vatry can gain formal recognition from the French authorities and a role as a secondary hub to Roissy-CDG, whose cargo handling facilities were stretched to capacity when the economy was buoyant.
Last year, Paris-Vatry lost its two biggest freight operators, DHL and Avient, and the airport’s state-of-the-art facilities and 100 staff are significantly under-employed.
Marne Council has sunk an estimated €220m (US$304m) into the airport and the return on investment, in terms of jobs created (1,100, when the site’s road transport and logistics activities are added) and the impact on the regional economy, has fallen well short of the objectives set.
Tensions on the council are apparent, with some members describing the airport project as extravagant, ill-conceived, over-ambitious and a costly mistake.
Avient, which brought in around 70% of Paris-Vatry turnover, left suddenly and acrimoniously in September for Liège, with Paris-Vatry’s operating company, SEVE, claiming the cargo airline had not settled bills totalling €1.5m. The dispute is now likely to end up in court.
In December, SEVE chief executive Youssef Sabeh stepped down. But the company has quashed any link with the airport’s current difficulties, saying Sabeh had initially been set to quit at the end of 2008, but decided to stay on longer in the light of the growing economic crisis.
Marne Council is injecting €7m of fresh capital into SEVE to bolster cash flow and offset any threat of insolvency, and this is expected to see the operator through this year and next.
Council leader René-Paul Savary defends the airport’s record so far, stressing that it is at an intermediate stage in its development. However, he admits, “all options as to Paris-Vatry’s future are being considered”, including a sale.
His first deputy at the council, Charles-Amédée de Courson, highlights Paris-Vatry’s assets: ultra-modern facilities and infrastructure; France’s third longest civil runway (3,860 metres); 24-hour opening; and considerable land reserves for further development.
He believes the time has come to sell the air and road hub, possibly to one of Europe’s bigger airport operators, and negotiate, as part of the deal, the development of activities such as flight training, aircraft maintenance and other civil and military aviation-related activities.
Long before the economic slowdown took hold, Paris-Vatry had fallen well short of its traffic growth objectives. After a decade of activity, it was projected to be handling 150,000 tonnes of air freight annually. Its high point of 42,000 tonnes came in 2008 and last year’s traffic will probably show a decline to around 20,000 tonnes. If this downward trend continues, it could slump to fewer than 6,000 tonnes this year.
Sabeh’s successor as head of SEVE, Gilles Darriau, will be hard-pressed to arrest the slide, unless Paris-Vatry can gain formal recognition from the French authorities and a role as a secondary hub to Roissy-CDG, whose cargo handling facilities were stretched to capacity when the economy was buoyant.
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