Nantes Airport (NTE)

Nantes Airport is recognised by its official code of NTE, and is well known as the Nantes Atlantique Airport. Its former name was the Aéroport Château Bougon, as it is closely located to Bouguenais, just outside of the city. It is operated by the Chambre de commerce et d’industrie de Nantes, and is located approximately 8km, or 5 miles to the southwest of the city which is now found in the Pays de la Loire region of France, but was previously the capital city of Brittany, however, it is no longer considered as part of this province. NTE is an important gateway to Western France, and is well equipped with all facilities required by its passengers.

The main access road of Nantes Airport is the D85, which connects to the city’s peripheral ring motorway, which completely surrounds the central areas of Nantes. This road is known as the N844, or the E3, and is referred to in French as ‘périphérique’. All major destinations are linked by main highways to the N844, for example, the A83 leads south towards La Roche-sur-Yon, Niort and Bordeaux, while the A11 links Nantes to Angers, as well as to Le Mans and Paris further to the northwest. To the north of the city is the N137, heading towards Rennes, and the N165 heads northeast towards areas along the western coast of France, such as Vannes, Lorient, Quimper and Brest. Particularly nearby the airport, besides Bouguenais, lie the areas of Les Sorinières, La Chevrolière, Bouaye and La Montagne. In order to find the airport with a GPS navigation system the following coordinates can be used: 47°09′25″N 001°36′28″W.

Nantes Airport has a long history, as it was first established in 1928, on a military airfield on part of the current site. In years to follow an aircraft factory was built adjacent to the airfield, and here various war aircraft were constructed, including the MB.20 bombers, the M.S406 fighters and the Le0.45 bombers. For these aircraft the first paved runway was put in place, with a length of 900m, or 2,953 feet. Nantes was used briefly during the Second World War as a base for the British Royal Air Force, but was mainly taken over by German forces, and used as a Luftwaffe base for attacks on England. At this point in time the aircraft factory was closed, but was also destroyed in 1943 by an air raid. The French Air Force was once again in control of the site after the war, and had the factory rebuilt. The commercial operations began in 1951, and developments of the facility included a new terminal completed in 1960 and extensions to the existing runway, which is today 2,900 meters long.

Although the largest airport in the west of France, the capacity of Nantes is capped at three million per annum, and there is no room for further expansion of the facilities, as it is too close to the city. With passenger numbers increasing year by year, authorities have seen a need for action, and have planned to build a new airfield some 30km from the city. The €580 million project was approved in 2008. The new airport will be known as the Aéroport du Grand Ouest, or the Grand West Airport, and will be to the north-west of the city, in the commune of Notre-Dame-des-Landre. Construction will begin in 2012, and expected completion is to be in 2015.

For now, however, the airport will continue to operate as normal, and to receive flights from its wide variety of airline carriers. The main carriers include Air France, Flybe, EasyJet, Eastern Airways, Iberia and Royal Air Maroc, and these airline companies offer a good variety of destinations from this location. Domestic destinations from Nantes Airport include Bordeaux, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, Strasbourg, Dijon, Paris Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly, while international destinations include Dublin, East Midlands, Leeds/Bradford, London-Gatwick and Manchester. Air Transat is popular for seasonal flights to Toronto-Pearson and Montreal-Trudeau, and Vueling, Iberia and Transavia.com offer flights to Spanish destinations, including Malaga, Barcelona, Seville, Madrid and the islands of Ibiza and Palma de Mallorca. Passengers can also fly directly to Italy, to cities such as Palermo, Catania and Milan.

Nantes Airport consists of a single ‘L’ shaped terminal building, from where all domestic and international flights are handled. On the longer side of the ‘L’, passengers will find the Halls 1 to 3, while Hall 4 is located on the shorter side. Halls 1, 2 and 3 are housed in a two-level building, with all check-in desks and baggage reclaim areas for arriving passengers on the ground floor, and the departure lounges on the upper floor. Hall 4 is a single-storey building, and is connected to the rest by a lobby area. On the site, there are car parking areas, a separate freight terminal to the south of the passenger building and the factory of Airbus, which was originally the aircraft factory used for the construction of military airplanes. It is now used to build various parts of the Airbus fleet of airliners.

Facilities at the airport on Nantes include a wide selection of large and small meeting rooms for business professionals, all with various items of equipment for their use, an office of the International Currency Exchange France (ICEF), a bank and cash machines. A post box is available in Hall 2, wireless Internet connections can be found at various locations and the Tourist Office will provide all the information required regarding tourism. There are several lovely shops, bars and restaurants, including the Duty Free Atlantique, Vents D’Puest Boutique, the L’Escale Bar, the Paul Store and the L’international Bar. The Nantes airport facilities are fully accessible to disabled passengers with adequate toilet areas, pavement ramps, elevators and meeting points.

Further details regarding Nantes information is found online, or from the information desks within the terminal building.

The Air Transport Association (IATA) code for the airport is NTE. It is also known as Nantes Atlantique We have provided the GPS location which are as follows 47.15000, -1.60000, to help either your arrival directions or perhaps give you directions to your chosen destination.

Find below a choice of Airlines, destination and flight times from Nantes Airport.