Limoges Airport (LIG)

The small international Limoges airport is located approximately 6 km west-northwest of the city center. It is also well known as the Bellegarde, or Aéroport de Limoges – Bellegarde in French, and has the official code of LIG. The airport is served by a handful of airline companies, with the majority of destinations handled by Flybe and Ryanair. The official operator in charge is the CCI de Limoges, and the air gateway is classed as public, serving domestic and international commercial flights.

Although not very large, Limoges Airport is situated in an important location for access to the regions of the Creuse, Corrèze and the Haute-Vienne department, which are visited by a significant number of tourists. The airport serves as a gateway to the Limousin region, and is just twenty kilometres from Saint-Junien, another fairly large city in the department of Haute-Vienne. The destination could be the starting point of a travelling holiday to numerous popular areas in France as well, as the airport is within an hour and a half’s drive of areas such as Poitiers, to the northwest, Périgueux and Brive-la-Gaillarde to the south, Chateauroux to the north, Guéret and Tulle. La Rochelle, a coastal town of France is also just to the west. A major city approximately 220 kilometres from Limoges is Bordeaux, and Lyon lies to the east. Areas further south of the city include Toulouse, Montpellier and Marseille.

Access to Limoges is provided by the major Autoroute of the A20, and the airport is just a few minutes drive from the city centre. It is just off Exit 28, and signs mention ‘Bellegarde’ and have an aeroplane logo. Unfortunately, there is no permanent bus service, and there is no train station on site. However, taxis are always available, and arriving passengers can rent a car from one of the car hire companies.

In 2010 the airport, handled almost 337,000 passengers, which is slight decrease from previous years, such as 2007, which saw almost 400,000 passengers. However, the destination has seen a significant increase in traffic since the opening of low-cost airline routes to various international and domestic locations. Between the years 2005 and 2006 traffic figures increased by almost 100,000 whereas before 2004, Limoges airport was handling below 200,000 passengers per annum. 2011 has started on an extremely positive note, with 154,000 passengers for just the first six months of the year, which is already an increase in traffic by 3.1%. There has been an increase in international routes to Great Britain, and many domestic routes to Paris-Orly and Lyon have experienced significant popularity. LIG can also claim a spectacular 30% increase to seasonal routes, to areas such as Ajaccio and Figari-south in Corsica, and Nice.

At Limoges Airport, the popular low-cost airline carrier of Ryanair takes passengers to East Midlands, Liverpool and London-Stansted, throughout the year, and to Bristol and Leeds/Bradford during the high season. Flights offered by Flybe include the destinations of Manchester and Southampton, and seasonal flights to Newcastle upon Tyne. Air France operates domestic flights to Nice and Lyon, as well as seasonal flights to Figari. Airlinair is another airline company operating on site, with flights to Paris-Orly. For the 2012 Olympic Games in London, flights will be offered from Limoges to Southampton, which is centrally located along the south coast of the United Kingdom. Southampton could be a much more friendly and convenient arrival point than the busier and larger airports of London, and it features excellent road and rail connections.

The current airport of Limoges was established in 1972, and served the two airline companies of Air Inter and Air Limousin. Previously, the first airfield of Limoges was in the town of Couzeixin, and was then moved to the current municipal golf course in 1933. To date, the destination has served over four million passengers, and some of the highlights in its history include the construction of the artificial runway in 1990, a new control tower in 1997, and the arrival of the first low-cost airline carrier in 2002, by the name of Buzz. Ryanair arrived at the airport in 2003, and was followed by Flybe in 2005. The site also opened a new terminal building in June 2005.

Limoges airport of today consists of a single terminal building, from where all departure and arrival flights are handled, and one runway of reasonable length (over 2,000 metres). Although one of France’s smaller, ranked only as the 23^rd largest airport in the nation, it is quite well equipped with several important facilities for its passengers. The ticket desks of Air France are open an hour before each departure flight, as well as during daytime hours, and the desks of Ryanair and Flybe are open two hours before departure flights. There is a restaurant and a bar within the terminal building, as well as a couple of shopping outlets. The terminal building features a business meeting room able to accommodate up to 35 people at a table, or up to 80 without the table, and is fully equipped with a big screen, video projector, DVD player, television etc. Other facilities include a meeting point for disabled passengers, an ATM, a letter box, luggage trolleys, public telephones, a baby care room and a new WiFi service for connections to the internet. There is even a hotel just 100 metres from the terminal, by the name of the les Alizés Hotel.

All further details regarding the airport information is obtainable from the information desk within the terminal, or staff can be contacted at 05 55 43 30 30.

The official code of LIG is assigned to Limoges Airport. It is officially known as Bellegarde Please find below GPS coordinates which may help you in your arrival or departure. The Coordinates are 45.86083, 1.18028 which you can enter into your Smartphone or in-car GPS.