Summary

  • Carcassonne Airport passenger traffic rising, annual total increasing from 250k in 2022 to 340k in 2023.
  • Routes at Carcassonne Airport mainly operated by Ryanair, with intercontinental flights to Tangier, Morocco.
  • Over the years, Carcassonne Airport’s route portfolio expanded slowly, initially monopolized by Ryanair.

Situated in France between Toulouse and Narbonne, Carcassonne is arguably most famous for the walled fortress that it is home to. The spectacular architecture of this fortified citadel, which is known as the Cité de Carcassonne, draws tourists from far and wide to the city to observe its striking beauty, with many arriving by air at the city’s small airport. But which routes has this facility served over the years?

The airport in a nutshell

As cities go, Carcassonne is small, with France’s National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies showing that its municipal population in 2021 was just 46,218. With this in mind, one problem that it doesn’t have to face in the way that larger conurbations do is finding space for an airport close to the center. Indeed, it is located just three kilometers (just under two miles) from the heart of the city.

Primarily known as simply Carcassonne Airport (CCF), a recent report by GoLanguedoc shows that the facility’s passenger traffic has been on the up in recent years. Indeed, as it, along with airports located around the world, looks to bounce back from the challenges of the pandemic, its annual total when it comes to arriving and departing passengers rose from 250,000 in 2022 to 340,000 in 2023.

Interestingly, these figures are still below its busiest years, with Carcassonne Airport stating that the total exceeded 450,000 in 2009. Still, with GoLanguedoc also noting that “with a new facelift and 2 new passenger lounges, Carcassonne Airport is expected to add new routes in 2025, with new airlines,” this year’s total, and those of the coming years, will likely only continue to trend in an upward direction.

This year’s offering

In terms of the facility’s route offering, let’s start in the present, by looking at the corridors served by Carcassonne Airport in 2024. According to data made available by Cirium, an aviation analytics company, Ryanair has a monopoly on the facility’s commercial traffic at the moment, and is responsible for all 2,052 of its flights this year. These will offer 390,784 seats and 250,470,980 available seat miles (ASMs).

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As is the case with Ryanair’s operations as a whole, most of these flights will connect Carcassonne Airport with destinations situated elsewhere in Europe. However, the facility also has a limited intercontinental offering, in the form of Ryanair’s flights to Tangier Airport (TNG) in the North African country of Morocco, which operate seasonally, with 77 flights each way between May and October.

In fact, more of Ryanair’s routes to and from Carcassonne operate on a seasonal basis than those that run all year round, likely in response to higher tourism demand in the summer. Among the airport’s other seasonal destinations with the low-cost carrier are Bournemouth (52 round trips), Cagliari (35 round trips), Cork (42 round trips), Dublin (120 round trips), East Midlands (44 round trips), and Porto (60).

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Ryanair Boeing 737-800 Taking Off

Photo: Boeing

Meanwhile, the first of Ryanair’s three year-round routes from Carcassonne serves Brussels South Charleroi Airport (CRL) with 120 round trips, peaking in May, July, and August (14 apiece). The other two serve British destinations, with London Stansted Airport (STN) seeing 264 round trips (some operated by Lauda and Ryanair UK), compared to 167 for Manchester Airport (MAN) in the northwest of England.

Ryanair slowly grew its network in Carcassonne

However, despite the relatively abundant network that is sports today, Carcassonne Airport hasn’t always had the most diverse portfolio of routes at its disposal. Indeed, turning the clock back by 20 years, Cirium’s data shows that, in 2004, while Ryanair offered similar capacity at the facility (1,828 flights and 345,492 seats), this was spread across just two routes, namely to Stansted and Charleroi.

The following year, Dublin Airport (DUB) in the Republic of Ireland was added to the mix, with the likes of East Midlands (EMA), Liverpool (LPL), and Shannon (SNN) joining the party in 2006. This list of destinations stayed the same the following year, before Cork (ORK) was added to the repertoire in 2008. A year later, the likes of Bournemouth (BOH), Frankfurt Hahn (HHN), and Edinburgh (EDI) joined.

Ryanair Plane In Old Livery At Carcassonne Airport

Photo: David Muscroft | Shutterstock

While 2010 saw certain routes removed from the offering, others were added, with the likes of Glasgow Prestwick (PIK), Leeds Bradford (LBA), and Porto (OPO) among that year’s additions. While 2011 saw no new routes, 2012 heralded the arrival of Ryanair flights from Billund (BLL), Eindhoven (EIN), and even a domestic route from Paris Beauvais (BVA). But when would Ryanair’s monopoly be broken?

Other carriers’ operations

The arrival of a second airline eventually came in 2015, when Spanish flag carrier and oneworld member Iberia operated 10 round trips from Alicante (ALC) under its Air Nostrum regional brand. In 2016, this figure increased to 12, although capacity was low, at 890 seats each way. Meanwhile, 2017 saw a short-lived connection to Oran (ORN) in Algeria, with 33 rotations operated by Atlas Atlantique Airlines.

What do you make of Carcassonne Airport? Have you ever flown to or from this French facility? Let us know your thoughts and experiences in the comments!

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