Departure
97%
vs 95% ▲ 2
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Clermont-Ferrand Auvergne Airport (LFLC) lies at Aulnat, a few kilometres east of Clermont-Ferrand in the Puy-de-Dôme department of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. It is the principal airport serving the Auvergne region, with a single long hard runway, a Category 3 ILS, and a full air traffic control service, making it a straightforward and well-equipped destination for a VFR or IFR arrival in central France.
Clermont-Ferrand Auvergne Airport, known locally as Aéroport de Clermont-Ferrand Auvergne, sits at Aulnat on the eastern edge of Clermont-Ferrand. It is the main airport for the Auvergne region and has a long aviation pedigree, having grown from a First World War airfield into a modern airline gateway with precision instrument approach capability. For a simulator pilot it offers an interesting mix of a substantial hard runway, an ILS approach, and a compact but historically rich background, including a well-documented navigation-related accident in French aviation history.
The airport is located in Aulnat, in the Puy-de-Dôme department of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, about 6.8 kilometres (3.7 nautical miles) east of the city of Clermont-Ferrand. It sits at coordinates 45.7861N, 3.1625E and at an elevation of 1079 feet. As a licensed airport with its own approach, tower and ground frequencies, it operates within controlled airspace appropriate to a regional commercial aerodrome.
The airport has a single physical runway, 08/26, a hard-surfaced strip 9365 feet in length that is lit and equipped with an ILS on runway 26.
Pilots can expect the following services and frequencies: Clermont Approach on 119.375 MHz and 122.225 MHz, Clermont ATIS on 136.4 MHz, Clermont Information (FIS) on 122.225 MHz, Clermont Ground on 121.95 MHz, and Clermont Tower on 118.625 MHz. Runway 26 is served by an ILS, and the field has historically also used a non-directional beacon for instrument approaches.
The site's first hard runway, corresponding to today's 08/26, was built in 1916, and the airport's first terminal opened in 1937 at a modest 200 square metres. The runway was extended to its present length in 1975, and a Category 3 ILS system was installed the following year, 1976, giving the field a precision approach capability unusual for a regional airport of its size. A new terminal building was constructed in 1992. For many years the airport served as the hub of Regional Airlines, a significant French regional carrier, until Regional Airlines was acquired by Air France in 2000; Air France subsequently transferred the hub operation, later known as Hop!, to Lyon-Saint-Exupéry Airport around a hundred kilometres away. The airport's history includes two notable accidents: on 28 December 1971 a Vickers Viscount operated by Air Inter departed the runway during a training flight simulating an engine failure and was damaged beyond repair, and on 27 October 1972 Air Inter Flight 696Y, a Viscount en route from Lyon, crashed in bad weather near Noirétable after the crew apparently misread a radio compass indication while flying an approach using the airport's non-directional beacon, with 60 of the 68 on board killed.
Clermont-Ferrand Auvergne Airport is operated by VINCI Airports and remains the principal commercial airport for the Auvergne region, handling around 249,000 passengers in 2025 across three scheduled destinations, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Algiers and Ajaccio, served by Air Corsica, Air France and ASL Airlines France. The airport site also hosts several aircraft maintenance companies and a training centre, giving it an active general and training aviation presence alongside its scheduled airline traffic.