Brest Lesquin Airport (BES)

Brest Airport is located along the western coastline of France, approximately 10.2km, or 6.4 miles northeast of the city centre, and serves the country’s department of Finistère. The airport is situated in the commune of Guipavas, and was therefore formerly known as the Guipavas, but is now officially called the Bretagne Airport, and is recognised by its official code of BES. It also has the ICAO code of LFRB. Aéroport de Brest Bretagne is of reasonable size, with over 800,000 passengers per annum, and is modern and well equipped with various facilities for its passengers. It is also well positioned nearby a number of prominent highways and motorways, and there are several options for transport available.

Brest Bretagne passenger traffic has been over 800,000 since the year 2007, and seems to be steadily increasing each year. The most significant airline carriers include Air France, Ryanair and EasyJet. The majority of flights from Brest are to other domestic destinations, but there are international flights available as well. Local destinations include Lyon and Paris-Charles de Gaulle by the airline companies of EasyJet and Air France, as well as Toulon by Jetairfly and Marseille by Ryanair. Chalair Aviation also offers flights to Bordeaux and Lille, while Finist’air takes passengers to Quessant, an island just off the west coast of France. The majority of Flybe’s activities are seasonal, and their flights are to the United Kingdom, to Birmingham, Manchester and Southampton. Another airline company present at Brest Airport is Vueling, offering charter flights to Barcelona, in Spain.

Although the regular flights are mainly to domestic destinations, there are many charter flights available as well, which head for Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands, Venice in Italy, Funchal in Portugal, Ibiza and Palma de Mallorca, two of the Balearic Islands of Spain and Heraklion, on the Greek island of Crete.

Brest Airport came into existence around the time of the First World War, and was then simply a hangar used for the storage of small aircraft. Towards the mid-1930’s, it became an aerodrome by orders of the government, and work to extend the runway commenced after the Second World War. The runway then was just under 1,800 metres in length. The Airport really began its significance in regards to passenger traffic in 1961, when it received its commercial license. In the years following, it received a new control tower, further runway extensions and various other renovations, including a new terminal building in more recent years. In 2011, the ILS all-weather landing system was also replaced, and this should help to eliminate the need to re-route airplanes during foggy conditions.

Today, Brest Airport consists of two runways, both with an asphalt surface, and one long enough to handle aircraft of just about any size. The other is much shorter, at just 700 metres in length. The new terminal has been in service since 12 December 2007, and took four years to construct, at a cost of approximately 52.8 million Euro. With the new building, the destination has been able to provide its passengers with a higher level of service and comfort, and is now able to accommodate between 1.4 and 1.8 million passengers per annum. Some features of the terminal include an immense glass bay window which provides wonderful views over the runways, two footbridges which link the boarding zones to the medium and larger-sized airplanes, a larger area for shopping and restaurant facilities and a new business area, with conference rooms and offices for hire. There are also now more parking spaces for passengers arriving in their own motor vehicles. The terminal has three levels, and covers an area of about 22.200 square metres. There is also a range of rental car companies at Brest Airport.

Further facilities include a cash machine on the ground floor, a post box, pay phones, a travel agency and free Wi-Fi services. There is also a special waiting area for unaccompanied minors, and the entire building is completely accessible for disabled passengers. Elevators provide access to the upper levels, toilets suitable for those in a wheelchair are available and there are reserved car parking spaces and pavement ramps. Disabled passengers are able to easily access the plane as well, since that the passenger bridges are flat and also equipped with lifts. There are no hotels on site, but two hotels are within a few kilometers of the airport grounds.

Passengers can reach the airport of Brest by bus or taxi, or in their own vehicles, as the N12 motorway passes on the southern side, providing easy access from Brest and Bohars to the east, as well as from Morlaix and Landerneau to the west. Additional roads nearby include the D67, D167, D788, D712 and D25. Brest Airport is just a fifteen minutes journey from Brest city center. Areas very nearby include Saint-Tudon, Kernoaz, Kervao, Baralan and Kereller, while larger areas nearby are Guipavas and Gouesnou. Further east are the larger cities of Rennes and Le Mans, while Quimper, Lorient, Vannes and Nantes are to the south-east.

Passengers in need of further Lesquin Airport information, or assistance, can go to the information desks located within the terminal.

The IATA 3 Letter code for the airport is BES. The other name it is recognized by is Brest Lesquin. The GPS location is – 48.45000, -4.41667 which you can enter into your Smartphone/I phone to enable you to find your way to and from the airport.

You can see below a selection of nonstop flights covered from Brest Airport with approximate times.