“Transavia increased the number of international seats departing from Montpellier by 30% this summer”

Nicolas Hénon, directeur général adjoint de la compagnie aérienne à bas coût Transavia. “Nous avons augmenté le volume des sièges de 30 % cet été sur l'international, au départ de Montpellier”. Midi Libre – GIACOMO ITALIANO

Interview with Nicolas Hénin, deputy general director of the low-cost airline Transavia, a subsidiary of the Air France-KLM group.

In 2019, Transavia announced great ambitions for Montpellier Méditerranée airport. What about today??

The development that we had planned at that time did not happen at the pace that we had envisaged. But we are still here. The proof is the program we are announcing for this summer. We're going back on the offensive, with a supply of international seats up 30% compared to summer 2023. With, of course, a slightly different network, since we are opening this summer Istanbul, Rabat and Constantine. In addition, we maintain a plane based at Montpellier airport throughout the summer.

Why were ambitions lowered ?

There are two reasons. The first is that, in the meantime, there was the Covid pandemic, which seriously disrupted air travel. It slowed down the growth started before. The second is linked to the new strategy decided by the Air France-KLM group, which has chosen to focus on growing our presence at Paris-Orly airport. This strategy will monopolize a large part of our growth over the next two years. This limits our room for maneuver on the potential of aircraft dedicated to this strategy at Orly. While we had planned to mobilize them for the benefit of our growth in the regions. However, this does not mean that we will not find small margins of growth in the provinces.

How is the summer season shaping up for your program departing from Montpellier ?

Very good since we are ahead in terms of the occupancy rate of our planes. We are thus, today, five points above what we observed in the summer of 2023. Over the entire summer season, we are between one and two points above. This shows the dynamics of demand in Montpellier and its region. We are still putting 420,000 seats on sale in the summer offer from Montpellier. With an increase of 30% internationally, a niche that we strongly wish to develop.

You have just announced Dubai departing from Toulouse next winter. Can Montpellier be affected by this type of destination??

We experienced Dubai last winter from Lyon and Marseille. As it worked well, we are indeed launching a flight from Toulouse next winter. The objective is to make better use of our planes during the winter, when traffic is less. We are on a pragmatic development path, seeking a market segment that does not exist today. If this market is satisfactory, why not extend it to other cities in the region.

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