Annecy Mont-Blanc to join VINCI Airport’s global network next year

VINCI Airports has added Annecy Mont-Blanc Airport to its global airport network after signing an agreement to resume responsibility for its management, operation and development for the next 15 years from January 1, 2022.

All current staff at the French gateway will join the wholly owned VINCI Airports subsidiary handling the Annecy Mont-Blanc Airport concession.

According to the global airport operator, Annecy Mont-Blanc Airport will be able to rely on VINCI’s expertise in business aviation, in particular through its ‘executive handling’ label that essentially serves as a guarantee of high quality of services.

It will also benefit from synergies with the other airports that the group operates in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region (Lyon-Saint Exupéry, Lyon Bron, Chambéry Savoie Mont Blanc, Grenoble Alpes Isère and Clermont-Ferrand Auvergne).

In addition, VINCI Airports has pledged to jointly invest €10 million with the Haute-Savoie administrative department on supporting the expansion of business and leisure air travel at Annecy Mont-Blanc.

The investment plan will focus on three main areas: modernising the runway, enhancing quality of services (entirely revamping the terminal) and rolling out an ambitious environmental policy to speed up the airport’s ecological transition.

The main environmental measures will include energy retrofits in the buildings, setting up photovoltaic panels for self-consumption, replacing light bulbs with LEDs, installing electric vehicle charging stations, replacing ground support vehicles with electric ones.

VINCI Airports will also adjust landing fees according to aircraft CO₂emissions, as it is already doing at several other airports in its network across France.

The environmental action plan for Annecy Mont-Blanc is part of VINCI Airports’ environmental strategy to reduce its overall CO₂ emissions by 50% by 2030 and to achieve net zero carbon emissions in two stages (at its French airports by 2030 and its 45 airports worldwide by 2050).

• Pictures one and two courtesy of Florian Pépellin  and Guilhem Vellut respectively.