Bergerac Airport Brings Boost to Economy

Staff at Bergerac airport are celebrating after recent figures produced by the Chambre de commerce et d'industrie (CCI) revealed that the airport had raised a staggering 1.7 billion euros over the last eight years. The airport, which became a low cost plane carrier in 2003 and flies to Britain, Holland and Belgium, is funded in part by the Dordogne CCI and has, over the years attracted critics who have claimed that the airport is too expensive to run. The airport itself continues to run at a loss of around €1.5 millon euros per year. The shortfall is collected from local taxes. However, the report looked at the impact of the airport in terms of bringing revenue into the area and discovered that its existence had generated in excess of €1.7 billion euros. Amongst other things,the study looked at the amount of money spent by tourists and residents in the Dordogne as well as taxes paid on house sales and by businesses. The study also revealed that since 2002, the number of British businesses registered in the Dordogne have increased by nearly 600%. Belgian and Dutch businesses have also increased and almost 100 expatriates (including 57 Britons) have taken up farming in the Dordogne. CCI president Christophe Fauvel said he was very pleased with the results of the study, especially when recent results from other regional airports have been poor. He said he was optimistic for the future and hoped to see the airport start running services to Spain and Italy in the near future.