Cannes Airport
The airport in Cannes, which is expected to welcome an additional three million annual tourists when its new terminal opens in September 2021, has been ranked the one most likely to be affected by air traffic infrastructure constraints in this region of the world.
The airport at Cannes is now being renovated, with three new terminals being built and expanded over the next five years.
Spanning the existing boundaries of Cannes and the newly built La Grande Maranche District, this airport complex will ultimately see five new passenger terminals built to coincide with the planned growth in demand for air travel into this region.
At a projected cost of almost EUR 2 billion, the new terminals will expand capacity to nearly 15 million people per year, more than tripling the current airport’s capacity during the high summer season.
However, while the construction will be well underway by the time the airport’s new terminal opens in September 2021, the potential scale of disruption at other airports in the region – such as Toulouse – means this may not be enough.
New flights for Cannes
The expansion of the runway at Toulouse is already nearing completion with the first test flights taking off in mid-2021, with the official opening in the summer of 2021. This airport currently serves more than 2.8 million passengers each year.
According to the CAA, other new flights to be introduced in the region include Geneva-Marseille, Geneva-Valencia, Geneva-Cordoba and Geneva-Nizza in 2021.
The report highlights further opportunities to increase air capacity.
Cannes Airport is also considered the most likely airport to suffer major disruption from construction activity in this part of the world, with the construction of the new Toulouse airport expected to affect more than 600,000 flights in the coming years, and bring additional challenges for the global aviation sector.
Airport worst affected by congestion
Regional authorities are aware that this will impact directly on passengers of the existing airport in Cannes.
It is estimated that these passengers, who are faced with more delays and longer journeys, could represent a total of 50,000 of the 170,000 potential new passengers arriving at the airport each year, according to the CAA.
According to the CAA, the current airport in Cannes is already the worst affected of all major airports in the region.
Cannes Airport currently suffers delays of up to 45 minutes on its three most important domestic and international routes – Paris-Calais-Paris, Milan-Bergamo-Paris and Milan-Düsseldorf-Paris – with estimated delays of up to 30 minutes on others, the CAA says.
However, the analysis shows that these delays will grow with the development of other airports in the region, as new routes, terminals and destinations are added to the airport system.
Conversely, while the airport could be further congested during this development phase, the current congestion is a consequence of growing demand in this part of the world.
This growth is the result of recent record levels of aviation activity in Europe – which has seen a total of more than 118 million passengers and more than 36 million tonnes of cargo air transported to and from the region, according to the CAA report.
While the construction of new airports is a vital part of the overall economic development of the regions in which they are being built, the new report suggests that even this will not be enough to ease congestion at existing airports.
In fact, at the current rate of air traffic growth, the air capacity at the existing airport in Cannes could fall below its limit in just 15 years.
For the aviation industry, it is now considered the more realistic option for airport authorities to try to attract more airlines into the region with the promise of wider flight slots to expand airport capacity.
However, for passengers, this is unlikely to happen soon enough.
Advice from Paris
To make matters worse, the report also includes detailed recommendations for the management of the existing airport in Cannes.
In particular, the report recommends reducing congestion on the existing airport by separating the arrival hall from the transfer desks, as well as helping travellers by displaying departure schedules from all departing flights.
It suggests that those travelling from the south-east could be best served by using alternative transport to reach the airport, as well as staying away from the airport as much as possible during peak hours.
Passengers should also be encouraged to travel at least two hours before their flight departs to arrive at the airport.
Finally, more passenger facilitation staff would be needed to provide customer service to passengers, including guiding and advising them in airport facilities as well as informing them of the airport layout, according to the CAA.
The report adds that additional security measures should also be implemented to help increase security measures and improve safety.
Aside from highlighting the shortage of airport capacity in Cannes, the CAA report highlights the difficulty of transporting passengers through the existing airport, despite the complex journey itself.
For those arriving by plane, the current airport, located in the heart of the city, is accessed from three different railway stations.
As well as using public transport, it is also recommended that passengers could walk to the train station, to make sure they arrive at the correct terminal in the city centre.
For those travelling from the south-east, the report recommends using the Airport Express Line, from the city centre, to get to the airport in less than an hour.
Once there, passengers should be encouraged to take the EasyBus, to and from the airport.
Even though it only operates for a limited number of flights, the CAA says that those who use the Express Line are likely to spend significantly less on flights, and could help ease the airport’s current congestion.
For those on the airfield, it is recommended that emergency airfield access be extended to facilitate the immediate evacuation of passengers in the event of an emergency.
Cape Town Airport, South Africa
I hunt for a lovely site to photograph near the Cape Town Airport every time I fly from the United States to South Africa. This time was no different. After takeoff, I found an open spot and started snapping away. Unfortunately, at the time I noticed this city and skyway building, my battery was already running down because of the long trip. I was hoping I would be able to come back after the end of my Cape Town trip to see if my camera battery died and to find this spot again.
Cape Town is obviously not the only city that has amazing skyways, as you can see in the photos on this post. On my skyway posts, you’ll find a variety of other great city skylines. I hope this one gets you looking for more skyways to capture with your camera and view.
Every day, at least two different flights depart from this Cape Town Airport. This shows how busy and huge Cape Town is. Right away, you can see that this area is the center of the city. On the right of the photo, you can see City Hall, the capitol building for South Africa.
Since we weren’t flying out of this airport, I began wandering about the city for other spectacular sites to photograph. I found a street in Cape Town where lots of people get in the air, look out at the city below, and take pictures. The street is called Regent Road and is in the neighborhood called Old Town. I believe this is one of the neighborhoods in Cape Town that is still being built up and developed. Although, this picture was taken in September 2021. Even though the colors of this area are faded in this photo, I still think the design is fantastic. There are two rows of stores on the street to the right of the photo. There is even a big flight of steps to get down to the sidewalk. The clouds were not very high in the sky at the time and I was hoping for a higher flight of stairs so the clouds could be above me. After taking some of my own pictures in the area, I turned around to look to see if I could find this cool street again. When I did, I got a view that I would have liked to take another picture to give the perspective to show you more of the city. There were no clouds left in the sky in this picture. You can see some of the top of Cape Town in the distance.
Cape Town City Hall and the Weather
Last but not least, I’d like to show you the view from this lovely city hall. The skyway is undoubtedly one of Cape Town’s most magnificent bridges. When I took this photo, the sun was already setting on the horizon and the sun was just starting to go down in the sky. The weather was extremely beautiful at that moment. I hope you get to see this view as well.
How I Found Cape Town’s Skyways
In Cape Town, I indicated that I took a different path to snap my photo. This road runs through Mitchell’s Pass, a small town in South Africa. Mitchell’s Pass is a very scenic road and a very nice drive through this part of South Africa. When you drive through this part of Cape Town, you can take a beautiful view of Table Mountain. However, the scenery around Cape Town was amazing. The drive to Cape Town across Mitchell’s Pass reminds me of a road with skyways erected on top of it. I actually thought that the skyways actually are built on top of this road because of the cables.
After driving through Mitchell’s Pass, I ended up finding a flight of stairs that looks like it has skyways built on top of it. It is actually not very far from the city, so I went down to the steps. I got out of my car and started taking some pictures. I took a picture of the skyways, the stairs, and a flying bird. When I was looking through the camera to get the photos, I realized that the bird was taking a flight over the city. It was a nice way to finish up this post.
If you are a photographer and you want to see Cape Town’s skyways in all of their glory, then check out my skyways blog posts. You will find the one I just shared with you here. There are also skyways in other amazing cities such as Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York City, London, Washington, D.C., Chicago, and Toronto. I hope you will love looking at all of the amazing views from skyways too. I know I do!