Departure
98%
vs 95% ▲ 3
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Nantes Atlantique Airport (LFRS/NTE) is a large international airport at Bouguenais, on the south-western edge of Nantes in Pays de la Loire, France, built around a single long instrument-equipped runway. Operated by Vinci Airports subsidiary AGO, it traces its origins to a 1920s military airfield and remains the principal gateway to western France, sharing its site with an Airbus composite-structures factory. For a simulator pilot it offers a straightforward but busy controlled airport with full ATC services and an ILS approach.
Nantes Atlantique Airport lies at Bouguenais, a few kilometres south-west of the city of Nantes in Pays de la Loire. It is operated by AGO (Aéroports du Grand Ouest), part of the Vinci Airports network, and is described as the leading airport in western France, handling scheduled and charter traffic from a single L-shaped terminal. For a sim pilot it is a compact but active regional international airport with a single long hard runway, full radar and tower services, and an adjoining Airbus factory, making it an interesting mix of airline and industrial aviation traffic.
The airport sits at Bouguenais, about 8 kilometres south-west of central Nantes, just outside the city's Périphérique ring motorway. It is a controlled aerodrome, evidenced by the provision of approach, tower, ground and ATIS/information frequencies; specific airspace classification and boundaries are not detailed in the available sources.
Nantes Atlantique has a single physical runway, 03/21, of hard surface construction and lit for night operations. Runway 03 is 9525 ft long and equipped with an ILS; the reciprocal direction, runway 21, is 8834 ft long. Field elevation is 79 ft.
The airport provides a full suite of radio services: Approach on 124.25 MHz and 124.43 MHz, Tower on 118.65 MHz, Ground on 121.655 MHz, ATIS on 126.93 MHz and an Information frequency on 130.275 MHz. An ILS is available for runway 03.
The airfield's origins lie in a military airfield conceived in 1928 on part of the current site. In 1936/37 the Société Nationale de Constructions Aéronautiques de l'Ouest opened an adjacent aircraft factory, initially producing MB.210 bombers and later M.S.406 fighters and LeO 45 bombers, and in 1939 the first paved runway, 900 metres long, was laid. During the Second World War the airfield was briefly used by the Royal Air Force before being captured by German forces, who closed the aircraft factory and used the airfield as a Luftwaffe base for raids on England; this brought a damaging Allied air raid on 4 July 1943 that also destroyed the adjoining factory. After the war the French Air Force resumed use of the airfield, the factory was rebuilt and went on to build sections of the Vautour fighter and the Caravelle airliner before becoming part of Airbus. Commercial operations began in 1951, with a new terminal built between 1954 and 1960 alongside runway extensions to accommodate larger aircraft. A long-running proposal to replace Nantes Atlantique with a new airport at Notre-Dame-des-Landes, approved in 2008, was ultimately cancelled in January 2018 after decades of controversy. On 19 January 2019 a light aircraft carrying footballer Emiliano Sala departed from the airport bound for Cardiff; both Sala and the pilot were killed when the aircraft crashed in the English Channel, with a subsequent investigation finding the pilot unlicensed for commercial or night flying and the aircraft unairworthy.
Nantes Atlantique remains the largest airport in western France, operated by AGO within the Vinci Airports network, and serves a wide range of scheduled and charter destinations across Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and North America. The site also hosts an Airbus factory specialising in the centre wing box and composite structural components for the Airbus airliner fleet, giving the airport a notable industrial aviation character alongside its commercial passenger operations.
