Nice airport records passenger boom as tourists flock to city

Nice airport is seeing a sharp rise in passengers, having exceeded its pre-Covid levels in 2024, with 14.8 million people passing through last year.

The Alpes-Maritimes (Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur) airport compared the figure positively to the previous pre-Covid record of 14.5 million passengers in 2019.

Nice airport is now the second-busiest in France after the Aéroports de Paris group, not taking into account freight travel or helicopters. It has two terminals and operates flights to and from 122 destinations across 45 countries.

Booming US tourists

It comes after figures recently showed that Nice is increasingly becoming a favourite of US citizens visiting and/or coming to live in France - with a booming tourist industry and a growing expat community.

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Americans now outstrip British, German, or Dutch tourists to the city, “and even Italians, for the first time ever in 2024”, said Claire Behar, director of Côte d'Azur France Tourisme, to Le Monde. 

US tourists have been attracted largely by: 

• The strong dollar against the euro, and high disposable income compared to people in France

• The history and art museums

• The fresh food

• The increase in flights between Nice and the US

• More and improved hotel offers

• The historical links between the Riviera and the United States

There are now more flights than ever between Nice and the US, after intense lobbying by local elected representatives and the airport.

In 2019, there was only one daily flight between Nice to New York. In 2022, United added another, and in 2023, American Airlines added a daily route to Atlanta, and then to Philadelphia in 2024. 

This year, United Airlines is also set to launch a service to Washington, DC, four times a week.

Environmental battles

However, the airport is currently embroiled in a battle with environmental associations over plans to extend terminal 2. 

Estimates suggest that this extension would increase the airport’s capacity by 21 million passengers and almost 136,500 flights per year by 2034.

In December 2023, the court of appeal the cour administrative d’appel de Marseille called for a new impact study on the environmental impact of an increase in air traffic from the new terminal, if it were to go ahead. 

Yet, the court did not suspend the work during this study and in November 2024 it concluded that the impact would be limited. 

This is largely because - according to experts involved in the study - improvements in aircraft technology will lead to an 11% reduction in emissions by 2034, despite an increase in flights, “due to improved infrastructure and increasingly less emitting aircraft”. 

It claimed that the air quality of the airport’s surroundings would change little, and extra noise pollution would affect just a few hundred more residents.

Franck Goldnadel, chairman of the Board of Aéroports de la Côte d'Azur, said: “Between the efforts made by the airport on its own emissions…and the efforts made by the entire aviation industry to decarbonise its operations, all the players are committed to reducing the environmental impact of air transport.”

However environmental associations have continued to mount fierce opposition, stating that any extra noise pollution is negative and that it would adversely impact those residents already affected.