Expansion of low-cost airline hub Paris-Beauvais challenged over climate and health issues
Paris-Beauvais airport caters essentially for low-cost airlines, chief among them Ryanair, and is a major, popular hub for budget flights to and from the Paris region. In 2024, a total of more than 6.5 million passengers passed through the airport, and its new operators, awarded a 30-year concession estimated to be worth around 4 billion euros, now plan to increase passenger numbers to an annual turnover of 9.4 million. But in a David-and-Goliath-like combat, local resident and environmentalist associations are mounting a legal challenge to halt the expansion, citing the threat to public health and the acceleration of climate change. Mickaël Correia reports.
SituatedSituated 65 kilometres, as the crow flies, north of the French capital, and serving 29 destinations across Europe and North Africa, Paris-Beauvais airport is the region’s major hub for low-cost carriers, which account for 99% of its traffic.
