Robert Veitch flies to the Côte d’Azur to learn more about the expansion and sustainability plans at Nice Airport from CEO Franck Goldnadel

During the 1970s, a land reclamation project enabled the development of the airport, which processed more than 14 million passengers during 2024, with an extension to Terminal 2 opening in 2025

AEROPORTSDELACOTEDAZUR/J KELAGOPIAN

Terminal 2 was previously extended in 2002 with the construction of the iconic roundel as the centrepiece

ALL IMAGES KEY-ROBERT VEITCH UNLESS STATED

Captain Ferdinand Ferber initiated the first Nice airstrip in 1902, when the French aviation pioneer selected a rocky beach east of the Var estuary for a 2,300ft runway on which to test his gliders. A few years later, in April 1910, the site hosted a ten-day airshow, attracting around 100,000 spectators. Further airshows followed as did gradual improvements to the airfield and infrastructure, which was located in the area now occupied by Terminal 2. Postal flights to Corsica began in 1918 and, during the late 1920s, it was known as California Airfield. In the 1930s, the first plans to develop the site for commercial aviation were laid out, including the relocation of a horse racecourse then located where the current car hire building stands and now four miles southwest at Cagnes-sur-Mer.

During World War Two, the airfield was used by Vichy French forces and was bombed by the Allies several times. After the Allies gained control in 1944, the USAF constructed a 4,429ft concrete runway. At the end of hostilities, Air France initiated a Paris-Marseille-Nice route in June 1945. The following year, the airfield was named Nice/Le Var and the route network and number of airlines using the airport began to increase. A runway extension increased the length to 5,577ft and, by 1951, passenger numbers touched 200,000 per year. In 1955, the facility was renamed Nice/Côte d’Azur. A new 7,218ft runway, inland of the existing strip, opened in 1957 and was designated 04/22, with its predecessor tagged 05/23. At the same time, a new terminal opened with a capacity to process one million passengers the arrival of long-haul aircraft and the first direct flight to New York. Further expansion came from a 495-acre land reclamation project that began in 1975 and eventually doubled the ground surface area of the airport. The project was struck by tragedy on October 16, 1979, when a dyke to the south of the extension collapsed as a result of annually. By 1961, runway 04/22 had been extended to 8,432ft after a 12acre land reclamation project to the northeast, which facilitated the arrival of the first Boeing 707s.