Marseille Airport (MRS)

Marseille Airport is located 27km to the northwest of Marseille’s city center which is the second largest city, as well as the oldest city in France. The airport lies within the Bouches-du-Rhône region and is situated nearby Les Pennes Mirabeau, Marignane, St.Victoret and Zi des Estroublans. It is also known as Marseille-Marignane and has the official code of MRS.

Marseille Provence airport has become a major regional hub for the Provence-Alps Côte d’Azur area, and handles both domestic and international traffic. Passenger traffic has grown steadily over the years. For the year 2007, the passenger traffic rose to almost 7 million. The previous year had just over 6 million passengers pass through the gates. MRS ranks approximately as the third busiest French airport in terms of passenger traffic.

The transportation of cargo is also a highly important feature of the Marseille Airport. It is the gateway for perishable goods from Africa, such as fish, flowers, fruits and vegetables. Therefore it has a huge refrigerated building of 1200 square meters. In 2007, cargo traffic was reported as 51 420 tons. In terms of cargo traffic, the destination is rated as the second largest in France.

The airport of Marseille consists of three terminals. One area is for domestic flights and another for international traffic. In 2006, the new MP2 terminal has been constructed especially for low-cost/ budget airlines. This is a special feature as it was the first low-cost terminal to be built in Europe. The terminals are all close to each other, therefore there is no need for additional transportation between them.

Airlines that serve the airport include Alitalia, Air Malta, British Airways, Air France, Lufthansa, Israel Airlines, easyJet, helvetic and KLM Dutch Airlines. The terminals are full accessible for disabled/reduced mobility passengers.

There are two runways. The first one is 3500m in length and 45m in width. The other one is 2400m in length and 45m in width. The gates are open 24 hours a day as there is no night ban for any of the aircrafts. Marseille Airport covers an area of 600 hectares.

Marseille airport originated in 1934, although back then, it was only a small aerodrome that served the region. Over the years much needed expansion and modernization took place due to the increasing number of passenger and cargo flights. The air gateway is also the main base of the aerial firefighting division of Civil security. Since it began operating in 1934, it has been managed by the Marseille Provence Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI).

The airport of Marseille has many objectives relating to safety and customer satisfaction. Their aims are to provide useful travel information, adequate parking with assistance if necessary, easy to navigate halls, attentive staff, and plenty of entertainment and dining in comfortable and relaxed surroundings. At the exits and entrances of all the boarding lounges there are new large-font plasma screens that display flight information. A new children’s play area was created in Hall 3 to provide a distraction for the little ones.

Marseille has a mild, temperature climate that is strongly influenced by the Mediterranean Sea. The winters are mild and the summers are hot, although the heat is moderated by the sea breezes.

Passengers arriving at Marseille have splendid views over the airport activities before descending to claim their baggage at ground level.