Lille Airport (LIL)

Lille Airport is situated in the area of Lesquin, just 7km, or 4 miles south-southeast of the city centre, and in the northern region of France. It is therefore otherwise known as the Lille-Lesquin, or simply as the Lesquin Airport, and is distinguished from other similar establishments by the official IATA code of LIL. The ICAO code is listed as LFQQ. The airport is served by several airline companies of importance, and a wide range of destinations are available for its passengers. It has also a modern and efficient terminal, with all the facilities required.

Lille is the principle city in the Métropole, and is also the capital city of the Nord-Pas de Calais region of France. It is situated very nearby to the border of Belgium as well, and is only a forty-five minute drive from Ghent. It is also only fifteen minutes from Kortrijk, an arrondissement of Belgium. The airport is situated in amongst a dense network of motorways, which makes it highly accessible, and excellent for all types of operation. The city centre is just ten minutes away as well. Areas particularly nearby Lille Airport include Wattignies, Seclin, Chéreng and Villeneuve-d’Ascq, while on a larger scale, the city is to the south-east of Dunkirk and Calais along the northern coast, to the north-west of Rouen and Amiens, and to the north of Paris, the capital city of France.

The main roads leading towards Lille include the A1 from Arras and Paris, the A25 from Dunkirk, the A22 from Ghent, the A27 from Brussels and the A23 from Valenciennes. The destination can therefore be easily reached by motorcar, from all areas of France and Belgium, however, there are other forms of transport available as well, including by bus and taxi. A public bus service runs regularly to Lille Airport from a bus stop in between the two main railway stations in the city centre, and taxis are available from all nearby locations. There is no train station on site.

Lille is ranked as the twelfth busiest airport in France in terms of passenger traffic, and received 1,147,924 passengers in 2009. This was a fairly significant increase in comparison to previous years, when passenger traffic was recorded at under a million. The destination plays a very important role in cargo movement for the country as well, with almost 38,000 tons every year. For freight movements, it is ranked as the fourth busiest in France. Scheduled flights for passengers are available daily to other French capitals, such as Bordeaux, Clermont-Ferrand, Marseille, Lyon, Nantes, Strasbourg, Nice and Toulouse, and several flights per week are offered to the destinations of Casablanca, Marrakech, Alger, Pise and Alicante. During certain times of the year, airline carriers also fly to a wide variety of holiday destinations, including the Balearic Islands of Spain, the Canary Islands, Crete, Greece and Maroc.

A new direct flight to Porto (Portugal), three times a week, was recently made available by the airline company of Ryanair, and this flight has proven to be quite popular. Ryanair arrives at the Porto Sà Carneiro, from where the city centre can easily be accessed by underground, bus and taxi links. Ryanair is one of the important airline carriers, and is also one of the most-loved low-cost airline carriers in the world. They have directly influenced the increase of passenger traffic at many of the smaller airports in a number of European countries over the years since the phenomenon of ‘budget’ flights came about around the year 2000. In 2009, Ryanair also announced that a second flight to Marseille will be available on a daily basis. The other main airline companies at Lille Aigle Azur, Air France, Air Algérie, Air France operated by Régional, Chalair Aviation, EasyJet, Royal Air Maroc, Transavia France and Vueling. Vueling offers flights to Barcelona, Spain, and Air Algérie has flights to Oran.

Since 1953 Lille Airport has been under the management and control of the Métropole Chamber of Commerce, or formerly known as the Roubaix Tourcoing Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber of Commerce’s responsibilities include the airport’s operations, commercial development, technical management and maintenance, design and construction projects, safety and security.

Lille Airport today covers a total area of 450 hectares of land, of which five hectares are buildings. The location has one main runway, of 2,845 metres in length, which is capable of handling aircraft of all types and sizes, from single engine private aircraft to large commercial carriers, such as the A380. The main runway is equipped to manage landings and take-offs in all-weather. There is also a second runway, of about 1,600 metres. The operations are handled from three terminal building. One is used for freight movements, another for general (private) and business aviation and the third as a passenger terminal. The passenger terminal is modern, and was completed in 1996, making space for business and private aviation in the old terminal. The terminal has a capacity for 1.5 to 2 million passengers per year, and can still be extended to handle up to three million passengers.

The airport nearby Lille is well equipped for its arriving and departing passengers, and offers a wide range of facilities. It is also described as a ‘fifteen-minute’ airport, which means that transfer and waiting times are kept to a minimum. Several car parks are available nearby the terminal, and the building is completely accessible to disabled passengers. Within the terminal, there are also shops and restaurants, duty-free stores, a business centre and car hire companies. Further information is available from the general information desks.

The Air Transport Association (IATA) code for Lille Airport is LIL. The other name it is recognized by is Lesquin. We have provided the GPS location which are as follows 50.56667, 3.10000 to help either your arrival directions to Lesquin or perhaps give you directions from Lesquin Airport to your chosen destination.

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