Hyeres Airport (TLN)

Toulon Airport is located in the southern region of France, and is of a medium size, with around 550,000 passengers per annum. Due to its location nearby the town of Hyeres and the famous Saint Tropez resort, it is also commonly referred to as the Toulon-Hyères, the Hyères Le Palyvestre and as the Toulon-Saint Tropez Airport. The official IATA code is TLN, and its ICAO code is listed as LFTH. It is served by a number of important airline companies which fly to local and international destinations, and has all the facilities required by arriving and departing passengers.

The international airport of Toulon is located in the heart of the Provence-Alpes Côte d’Azur (PACA) region, which has one of the greatest numbers of tourists out of all the French regions, and is in the Var department of the country. The airport is within an hour and a half’s drive of Marseille and Nice, two of the larger cities of the region, and is fifty-two kilometres from Saint-Tropez. Toulon is located approximately 23km from the airport. It is particularly nearby the areas of Macany, Le Ceinturon and Notre-Dame de Lorette, and its physical address is at Boulevard de la Marine, 83400 Hyères. To the south of Toulon Airport is the Mediterranean Sea and the peninsula of Presqu’île de Giens, which used be an island. In the north are the towns of Cuers, Camoules, Le Luc and Brignoles, and to the west and north-west lies Carqueiranne, La Garde, Le Pradet, Toulon, La Seyne-sur-Mer, Sanary-sur-Mer, Bandol, La Ciotat, Aubagne and Marseille. In the alternative direction the areas of Fréjus, Saint-Raphael, Cannes, Antibes and Nice are found. Nice is about 106km from Hyères , and Marseille is about 84km away.

The airport’s access road is the D42, or the Boulevard de la Marine, and the main roads from Toulon are the A57 and the A570. The D197 and N98 are other important roads nearby, and the A8 is used from cities such as Nice and Cannes. From Saint-Tropez, the D98 or the D93 and D559 can be used.

The main airline companies in operation at Toulon Airport are Air France, Air France operated by CityJet, Jetairfly, Transavia.com and the ever famous Ryanair, a low-cost carrier who has become a very popular option for travelling to many European cities. Ryanair currently has flights from Toulon a few times a week to the London-Stansted, and will be starting a new route to Oslo in March 2012. Air France offers six flights a week to the Paris-Orly, and CityJet has two flights a week to the London City. Brest Bretagne and the Brussels Charleroi can be reached on flights by Jetairfly, and Transavia.com, a leading low-cost airline carrier in the leisure market to the Netherlands, offers four flights a week to Rotterdam, a city nearby Amsterdam.

In 2002, the airport handled almost 740,000 passengers, but traffic figures dropped thereafter to under 550,000 passengers per year for the next three years. 2006 and 2007 proved to be lucrative years, with just over 630,000 passengers in 2006, and over 640,000 passengers in 2007. Passenger traffic dropped again over the next three years, leaving 2010 with only 502,392 passengers. However, 2011 ended on a more positive note, with around 577,000 passengers. Many of the European airports have shown lower traffic figures over the last few years, but are expected to produce increased statistics in future years. In general, for the last five years, Toulon Airport has had over 100,000 international passengers, and between 400,000 and 500,000 national passengers.

Hyères Airport has two runways, one of which is capable of handling medium to larger sized aircraft. It has a length of 2,140 metres, and a width of 45 metres. The second runway is shorter, only 1,900 metres in length, but is 50 metres wide. Both are asphalt runways, and have adequate landing and lighting aids. There is one passenger terminal building which consists of an arrival and departure area, and covers a total surface area of 11,500 square metres. It is therefore quite a large building, but it’s facilities are nonetheless easy to navigate, and mostly all under one roof. The terminal has a capacity to welcome up to 1.5 million passengers per year. The airport has two large parking areas for private vehicles as well, with a total of 1,000 spaces. P1 is used for short-term parking stays, while P2 is for longer stays. The P3 car park is used by the vehicles of the airport’s car rental companies.

The terminal is well equipped with a variety of facilities, and is able to welcome disabled passengers. For persons with reduced mobility challenges, there are reserved car parking spaces, pavement ramps, adapted toilets and lowered public telephones. Wheelchairs can be borrowed, and the airline companies will provide further assistance. There are a few airport shops available, including a duty-free store, places for eats and drinks, cash machines, a VIP lounge and meeting room facilities, as well as WiFi internet connections. Lost luggage services are also available, and there are general and tourist information counters. Toulon Airport was recently been renovated and expanded, and its all-in-one facility has proved to provide efficient service for it’s passengers.

Further details regarding Toulon Airport information is available at the information desks, or the airport can be contacted at 33 (0) 825 01 83 87.