The Lyon Airport, known as ‘Saint Exupery’, was opened in 1975. The airport was named after a famous French pilot called Antoine de Saint Exupery. The airport itself sits approximately 20 kilometres outside the city of Lyon, close to the A43 ‘Autoroute’. It’s an airport that has expanded considerably since its opening.
In the ‘mid-nineties’, the airport opened its’ new train station which provided high speed train services to Paris and Marseille. The train station was designed by the Spanish structural engineer, Santiago Calatrava, and is well known for its’ individual architectural look.
In 2009, it was recorded that St Exupery had become the 4th busiest airport in France as it recorded over 7.5 million passengers! The Lyon Airport has recently introduced the opening of its 3rd terminal, which is dedicated to the low-cost airline Easyjet.com. The new terminal 3 is expected to increase the passengers numbers to the airport by 3 million.
The Lyon Airport provides passengers with quick access to the cities of Lyon, Grenoble, St Etienne and Chambery. During the winter ski season, the airport receives many international passengers wishing to continue to the Alpine ski resorts. Due to the location of the airport, skiing tourists use St Exupery to access the popular ski resort destinations in the region of ‘Isere’ (near Grenoble) and ‘Savoie’ (3 valleys, Paradiski and Espace Killy).
Within 2 hours of travelling by car, the following ski resorts can be accessed from St Exupery:
- Alp d’Huez
- Alpe du Grand Serre
- Auris en Oisans
- Besse
- Les 2 Alpes
- La Grave
- Le Pleynet
- Vaujany
- Chamrousse
- Villard de Lans
Between 2 hours to 3 hours of travelling by car, tourists can reach the following ski resorts from the Lyon Airport:
- Avoriaz
- Courchevel
- Chamonix
- Val Thorens
- Les Menuires
- St Jean de Belleville
- La Tania
- La Clusaz
- La Plagne
- Les Saisies
- Les Sept Laux
- Les Gets
- Peisey Vallandry
- Montalbert
- Montchavin
- Morzine
- Meribel
- Les Arcs
- La Rosiere
- Ste Foy
- Tignes
- Val D’Isere
- Valmorel
- Valmeinier
- St Francois Longchamp
- St Sorlin D’Arves
- St Jean De Maurienne
- Val Frejus
- Val Cenis
- La Toussuire
With the availability of many low-cost flights to the Lyon Airport, it’s economically interesting for skiing tourists to consider this airport if they are planning a visit to any of the above ski resorts. However, the greater number of alpine ski resorts may take on average 2 hours 30 minutes to get to.