| Montpellier–Méditerranée Airport | |
| Iata: | MPL |
| Icao: | LFMT |
| Type: | Public |
| Operator: | S.A Aéroport de Montpellier Méditerranée |
| City-Served: | Montpellier |
| Location: | Mauguio, France |
| Elevation-F: | 17 |
| Website: | montpellier.aeroport.fr |
| Coordinates: | 43.5764°N 3.9631°W |
| Pushpin Map: | France Occitanie#France |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location of airport in Occitanie region in France |
| Pushpin Label: | LFMT |
| Pushpin Label Position: | bottom |
| Metric-Rwy: | y |
| R1-Number: | 12L/30R |
| R1-Length-M: | 2,600 |
| R1-Surface: | Asphalt |
| R2-Number: | 12R/30L |
| R2-Length-M: | 1,100 |
| R2-Surface: | Asphalt |
| Stat-Year: | 2019 |
| Stat1-Header: | Passengers |
| Stat1-Data: | 1,935,631 |
| Stat2-Header: | Passenger traffic change |
| Stat2-Data: | 2.96% |
| Footnotes: | Source: French AIP, Aeroport.fr[1] |
Montpellier–Méditerranée Airport or Aéroport de Montpellier–Méditerranée, also known as Fréjorgues Airport, is an airport in southern France. It is located 7km (04miles) east-southeast of Montpellier in Mauguio, in the Hérault department of the Occitanie region in France. The airport opened in 1946, 8 years after the first flight to the area.[2]
The airport carries the 10th largest number of passengers in France (over 1.18 million in 2010). A campus of the École nationale de l'aviation civile (French civil aviation university) is also located at the airport.
In 1938 the first aircraft landed at Fréjorgues.[3] During 1944, the airport was used by the Luftwaffe and subsequently bombed by the 15th USAAF on 27 January. It faced another bombing on Saturday, 27 May 1944 carried out by four bomber groups of the 304th Bomber Wing.
In 1946 significant improvements were made to facilitate the opening of the civil terminal. By 1964, the Montpellier Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIM) had obtained the temporary commercial management of the airport.
In 1974 the Montpellier Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIM) secured a commercial operating permit for a duration of 30 years.
In 1990 the airport's passenger numbers reached the one million mark. The inauguration of the new terminal building, covering an area of 14,000 m2, provided enhanced facilities for the passengers. Access to aircraft is provided by three passenger jet bridges and two mobile pre-bridges. On 1 February 1994, Montpellier-Fréjorgues airport officially became Montpellier-Méditerranée airport. In 1998, the airport surpassed the 1.5 million passenger mark.
The year 2000 marked Montpellier-Méditerannée airport's ascent to becoming the 9th largest French airport with 1.75 million passengers – an increase of 18% compared to 1996. However, the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, the introduction of the TGV Méditerannée line and the departure of Air Liberté led to a decline in traffic. In 2002, the airport introduced its first low-cost airline service. The same year, it obtained the ISO 9001 certification, defining requirements for the implementation of a Quality management system.[4]
In 2003 the airport received the official designation of an "airport of national interest" through a government decree. This decision, aligned with the evolution of decentralization laws, granted the Montpellier platform the status of a private company with public capital. In addition, the renewal of the concession allows the Montpellier Chamber of Commerce and Industry to continue to develop the airport until 2008 as manager with the signing of new specifications. The following year, the judicial liquidation of Air Littoral led to the closure of 14 routes.[5]
In 2008 the noise pollution was disputed by the local residents concerned. As a result, from October, airlines, flying clubs, ESMA and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation are committed to a "green trajectory" and to prioritise landings and take-offs by sea. The following year, Montpellier Méditerranée airport, managed by the Montpellier Chamber of Commerce and Industry, was transformed into a public limited company with a management board and supervisory board with a capital of 148,000 euros on 23 June 2009. Montpellier Méditerranée Airport SA was born. The shareholding is distributed as follows: 60% State, 25% Montpellier Chamber of Commerce and Industry, 7% Hérault Department, 6.5% Languedoc-Roussillon Region, 1% Pays de l'Or Community of Municipalities and 0.5% Montpellier Agglomeration.
In December 2011 a significant change occurred due to magnetic declination in France. As a result, the orientation of the runways war corrected to 12L / 30R (previously 13L / 31R). During the year 2012, the airport witnessed the arrival of three new airlines: Lufthansa, Twinjet and Volotea. Air Arabia also established a new route connecting Montpellier to Marrakech.
In 2014 a pivotal moment arrived as Belgian National Airline, Brussels Airlines inaugurated the Montpellier-Bruxelles route. The airline competed with the low-cost Ryanair flight to Brussels South Charleroi Airport, located one hour from the city of Brussels. In 2016, another milestone occurred when Chalair began operating on the Montpellier-Bordeaux. Additionally, Aer Lingus commenced service between Montpellier-Dublin. The Montpellier link to Paris Orly operated by Air France joins La Navette flights.
In 2018 airport management announces the creation of a terminal building specifically for Low Cost flights. The new facility was scheduled to open in spring 2019. The following year, the airport received the company Ural Airlines on the Montpellier-Moscow route, EasyJet expanded its operations with three new routes from Montpellier (Bristol, Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle and Porto). Ryanair is no longer at the airport following the cancellation of the last link to Brussels-Charleroi.
In 2020 Transavia France established a presence, basing two aircraft to operate 21 new routes.
The airport is at an elevation of 17feet above mean sea level. It has two asphalt paved runways: 12L/30R is 2600mx50mm (8,500feetx160feetm) and 12R/30L is 1100mx30mm (3,600feetx100feetm).
The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Montpellier–Méditerranée Airport:
Montpellier Airport's quarterly magazine, Airlife, began publication in 2016. Published by Lysagora Media, the magazine has articles on travel, design, lifestyle and leisure as well as information about the airport and its flight schedules.[7]