Detailed review by squidge
squidge
Occitanie, France97%
Salvaza Airport, locally known as the airport of Carcassonne, "pays Cathare", is situated 4 kilometres west of Carcassonne, just by the Narbonne-Toulouse motorway. There is a commercial zone just next to it, with a supermarket, furniture shop, MacDonald's, and a few hotels. The first thing that is striking when you reach the airport, is its small size. 100 square metres altogether with the departures, and arrival areas.
There is a car park in front of the terminal, and another next to it. Sometimes it is difficult to find a parking space, however, there is a petrol station just behind the car park where you can park for free, and plenty of space in the commercial activity zone. Otherwise the car parks are free for the first half hour. Next to the airport terminal, there is a car rental company.
The terminal itself has one small souvenir shop with postcards, wines and a few other local products. Above the shop there is a restaurant / bar, from where you can see the runway and the planes taking off and landing through a thick bullet proof, rather dirty last time I went, window. Drinks and food here are completely over priced, as in most airports.
Ryan Air is the only regular company to serve this airport, with flights to Charleroi, Liverpool, Stansted, Nottingham, or Dublin. Depending on what time of year you travel, flights can get very, very cheap. Inside the departure lounge, there are about 10 check-in desks, most of which must be rarely used seeing the few number of flights per day. Staff are bi-lingual and friendly, although they seem to be few.
An information desk at the entrance of the departure lounge, a ticket desk and the departure zone with your normal x-ray for hand luggage and metal detectors for passengers, sums up the contents of this terminal. There is a small waiting room before boarding the plane.
To get to the plane, youll actually need to walk along the outside of the terminal on the tarmac, and climb the mobile stairs into the plane. There are only two runways to this airport, one of tarmac for passenger planes, and a grass runway for small private planes. Military planes can be seen on the tarmac from time to time.
The arrivals lounge is particularly small. So small that only passengers are allowed into it. If you are waiting for a passenger, youll have to wait outside of the terminal building. Luckily the weather in Carcassonne is generally good.
There is a shuttle service into and around town from the airport for 5 Euros one way. Or if you want a romantic day out you can reserve the services of a horse drawn carriage to go to the fortified medieval city of Carcassonne and back. This is actually possible over one day, if you are brave enough to take two planes in the same day. You can land in the morning, visit the fortified city and fly back in the evening. Alternatively, there are plenty of hotels in and around the fortified city and airport, with a wide price range.
So to sum up, its a very small, but useful airport, and thanks to Ryan Air, it provides work for the locals, and has considerably developed tourism in general. If you look on Ryan Airs Internet site, youll find all the details on flight prices and airport taxes.
Aéroport de Carcassonne Salvaza8
Ratings
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Accessibility
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Budget Friendliness
