Brand New Airport in Brive La Gaillarde
Brive-La-Gaillarde, also abbreviated “Brive”, is a French city in the South West of France, in the Limousin Region, and is the Correze department’s subprefecture. It is the most populated city in the department, and the second in the region, after Limoges. Brive is located at the very south of Correze, at the border with the adjacent departments of Haute-Vienne and Dordogne. The city is ancient and has always been at the junction of commercial routes between North and South.
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Brive’s new airport is one of the key-elements for the upholding of the region’s economic growth and in the years to come, its role will be decisive in the fields of regional air transport, economy and tourism. This project was born in 1988, on the mayors of Brive and Souillac’s initiative, respectively Mr Jean Charbonnel and Mr Alain Chastagnol. It took more than 20 years and 20 building procedures for that project to be put into practice. Building works started on the 15th October 2005 and led to 691-acre excavation works, for a ground-coverage of 494 acres. The construction of the airport building itself started in spring 2009. This initiative was supported by 13 financial partners, with an overall investment of £39,316,000.
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Studies and works are coming to an end, and the airport is scheduled to be fully operational on the 15th of June 2010. The Brive – Souillac Airport, with a current capacity of 400 passengers, will have 3 flights to Paris (to Orly Sud Airport) and 3 flights to London (to London City Airport) per week. The flights to London will be provided by the airline company CityJet – which is owned by Air France and has 720 employees – every Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with one-way ticket from £51 (59€).
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If these lines are successful, the airport’s activity may expand to Lyon, Manchester, Edinburgh, Dublin, or even Amsterdam or Antwerp. However, the 2300 square-meter air terminal will not have any freight or night activity, for its installation has been quite controversial, and a part of the population still fears it might be a disturbance. This new airport is taking over the old Brive Laroche airport, and will have without any doubt a tremendous impact on the region, from economic, demographic and touristic points of view.
From an economic point of view, studies forecast that the airport will yield an income £51,282,000 per year, after a 5-year development period. Restaurants, hotels and car-renting companies are expected to settle in the region.
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With an easier and cheaper access, migration flows will develop and change the region’s population trends, as British, German and Belgian tourists will be able to visit the departments of Correze, Haute-Vienne and Dordogne very easily. Indeed, tourism will definitely be boosted in Correze and its surrounding touristic sites, such as Rocamadour, Sarlat, or Padirac. This region, steeped in history, will be accessible to all of Europe thanks to this new platform, supported by major motorways A20 and A89. The new airport is a real asset and will become a key point for tourism in this area.
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Thanks to this platform, you have an unavoidable opportunity to come to France and visit this beautiful area, so why don’t you take a look to our properties in Limousin? In the surroundings of Brive-la-Gaillarde, a budget of €165.000 would buy you a 3-storey convertible barn with great potential and a higher budget of €278,780 would buy you a beautifully restored stone house with 1.3 acres of land, a garage and a hangar.
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Tourist information:
Place du 14 Juillet
19100 Brive la Gaillarde
Tel : 00 33 (0)5 55 24 08 80
www.brive-tourisme.com
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What to do:
Festival de la Vezere-Brive et son pays
From July 7th to August 25th
www.festival-vezere.com
Brive Plage Festival
From July 23rd to August 7th
www.brive-tourisme.com
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