Rennes - Saint-Jacques Airport

Infobox Airport
name = Rennes - Saint-Jacques Airport
nativename = Aéroport de Rennes - Saint-Jacques


IATA = RNS
ICAO = LFRN
type = Public
owner =
operator = CCI Rennes
city-served = Rennes, France
location =
elevation-f = 124
elevation-m = 37
coordinates = coord|48|04|19|N|001|43|56|W|type:airport_region:FR|display=inline
website = [http://www.rennes.aeroport.fr/ www.rennes.aeroport.fr]
metric-rwy = y
r1-number = 10/28
r1-length-f = 6890
r1-length-m = 2,100
r1-surface = Paved
r2-number = 14/32
r2-length-f = 2,788
r2-length-m = 850
r2-surface = Paved
r3-number = 14L/32R
r3-length-f = 2,132
r3-length-m = 650
r3-surface = Unpaved
footnotes = Source: French AIPAIP_FR|LFRN|name=RENNES SAINT-JACQUES]

Rennes - Saint-Jacques Airport or "Aéroport de Rennes - Saint-Jacques" airport codes|RNS|LFRN is an airport about 6 km southwest of Rennes, Ille-et-Vilaine, Bretagne, France.

It is a national and international airport, open to regular and irregular flights, and to both private and passenger plans. The main runway can handle airplanes with up to around 180 passengers.

History

Before the construction of this airport, Rennes had a small hippodrome which was used as a landing strip in Gayeulles, to the north-east of the city. In 1931 work started on a proper airport to service Rennes, and a plot of 380,000 square metres in Saint-Jacques-de-la-Lande to the south-west of the city was acquired and building began. On Jul 28 1933 the new airport was officially opened by Pierre Cot.

Runways

The main runway can be used by planes with up to around 180 passengers, and it is best fitted for middle-range flights. For cargo transportation services, it is suitable for planes like Boeing 737 and 727, or Ilyushin IL-76. It is equipped with ILS.

The secondary paved runway is suitable for light motorized planes (business and leisure).

Competition and projects

This airport has some local competition with the Dinard Pleurtuit Saint-Malo Airport, on the Channel coast, preferred by low cost companies for passengers.

Due to the raising traffic in the Nantes Atlantique Airport (approaching its saturation), there is now an ongoing regional project to build a second large airport between Rennes and Nantes that will service both cities. This will require building faster and more frequent transit services with both cities and to their existing airports, through the modernization of the existing regional Rennes-Nantes railway link through Redon, and the interconnection with their fast TGV railway stations.

Airlines and destinations

*Aer Lingus (Dublin)
*Air France (Bordeaux, Lyon, Montpellier, Nice, Strasbourg, Toulouse)
**operated by Brit Air (Paris-Charles de Gaulle)
*Airlinair (Basle)
*Flybe (Belfast-City, Edinburgh, Exeter, Manchester, Newcastle, Southampton)
*Iberia Airlines Starts February 2008

Additional seasonal flights offer direct links to Heraklion (Greece), Dubrovnik (Croatia), Ajaccio, and Dublin.

Cargo Airlines

*UPS
**operated by Bluebird Cargo (Cologne, Jersey)

Traffic

The Rennes airport is the 19th for the total of transported passengers in 2005 :
* 2003 : 378,699 passengers
* 2004 : 377,325 passengers
* 2005 : 407,678 passengers

The Rennes airport is the 9th for the total of transported freight in 2005 :
* 2004 : 12 620 tonnes
* 2005 : 12 250 tonnes

References

External links

* [http://www.rennesairport.com/ Rennes Airport Travel Guide]
* [http://www.rennes.aeroport.fr/ Rennes Aeroport] (official site) en icon
* [http://www.aeroport.fr/les-aeroports-de-l-uaf/rennes-saint-jacques.php Aéroport de Rennes - Saint-Jacques] (Union des Aéroports Français) fr icon
*WikiMapia|48.0695|-1.7348|13
*WAD|LFRN
*ASN|RNS