Guillaume Lecompte-Boinet

French airports industry group UAF is pressing authorities to reconsider a decision to close customs and immigration facilities at 13 airports, among them the popular French riviera gateways La Mole-Saint&nbsp;Tropez and Le Castellet. The closure means that the airports have not been able to accept flights from outside the Schengen area of the European Union, in which passport controls are not required. This has blocked business aviation traffic from places such as Russia, the Middle East and the UK.

 


The closures were confirmed on October 29 when the Official Journal of the European Union published an updated list of French airports with customs service, with the 13 airports no longer included. UAF representative Nicolas Paulissen said the closures were quietly implemented without any study of the economic impact to save money.

 


According to Aéroports de la Côte d'Azur, almost one third of passengers arriving at Saint Tropez are from non-Schengen states and they tend to be wealthy visitors who spend a lot of money in the area. During the peak summer period, the airport receives between 90 and 100 movements per day.

 


In fact, the airport has continued to receive some flights from outside the Schengen zone. It provides French customs officials with passenger manifests and leaves it to them to decide whether or not to require screening. So far, the authorities appear to be tolerating this unofficial process.

 


The European Business Aviation Association is supporting its local chapter and UAF in their effort to overturn the closures. It said this “short-sighted decision,” which comes after 23 such border clearance points were closed in 2013, “fails to consider the economic impact of these actions.” For example, EBAA France points out that removing the clearance status of Saint Tropez, Le Castellet and Annemasse Airports affects more than 700 non-scheduled flights per year and will entail considerable financial losses for these regions. &nbsp;

 


“This is yet another blow to regional connectivity,” the EBAA said. It follows a recent revision of the guidelines on state aid at regional airports“that would force such facilities to close if they are unable to demonstrate financial autonomy.” This situation is further compounded by the “perennial lack of political support and foresight to equip regional airports with satellite-based augmentation system procedures to enable their use to be optimized.” 
 
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	Currently there are some 65 regional border airports in France that have permanent or on-request customs and immigration clearance services.

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