Vatry wants to be 4th Paris airport

RYANAIR is to begin running flights to Vatry, 150km east of Paris, which airport authorities hope to transform into the capital's fourth major airport behind Orly, Charles de Gaulle and Beauvais.

The base, two hours' drive from the capital in the Champagne region, will offer its first commercial flights on June 30, with twice-weekly Ryanair services to Oslo and Stockholm.

The local chamber of commerce is paying €2m in marketing costs to attract Ryanair.

It wants to see 20,000 passengers through the airport's doors by the end of this year, doubling in 2011.

Vatry is just outside Châlons-en-Champagne and the airport authorities hope it will be a popular destination for wine-lovers.

It is also about 1 hour 15 minutes from Disneyland Paris on the A4 motorway or the TGV from Reims.

Airport director Gilles Darriau told air-journal.fr that Ryanair would decide at the end of October whether to offer more flights from Vatry.

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