An Air Corsica plane takes off from Ajaccio airport on April 7, 2023 (AFP/Archives/Pascal POCHARD-CASABIANCA)
The Corsican Assembly on Thursday awarded the airline Air Corsica the air public service delegation (DSP) for eight lines between the four Corsican airports and Marseille and Nice, the last four to Paris to be allocated in March.
This DSP, which covers a total of 12 airlines, will begin on January 1, 2024 and end on December 31, 2027.
The Corsican transport office has a budget of 80.4 million euros per year to compensate for the public service obligations for this DSP, the executive council of Corsica assures in its report, adopted unanimously by the Corsican Assembly, that “under these conditions, it is not possible to allocate all” of the lines and that it has chosen to favor the allocation of so-called “edge to edge” lines between Corsica and Nice and Corsica and Marseille.
Nearly a million passengers use the DSP lines each year between Corsica and these two cities, and 1.16 million travelers for the lines between Corsica and Paris.
“More than one in two passengers to Marseille or Nice” are island residents, the report specifies, but “less than one in five passengers” is a Corsican resident on lines to Paris.
Air Corsica thus obtains the DSP for the Ajaccio-Marseille, Ajaccio-Nice, Bastia-Marseille, Bastia-Nice, Calvi-Marseille, Calvi-Nice, Figari-Marseille and Figari-Nice routes.
The Spanish low-cost company Volotea, candidate for the Ajaccio-Marseille and Bastia-Marseille lines, was not selected.
Concerning the lines between Paris-Orly and Ajaccio, Bastia, Figari and Calvi, “the negotiations are not closed”, specified the executive council, which intends to extend by amendment until March the current DSP carried out by Air Corsica associated with Air France.
Volotea is a candidate for the Paris Orly – Ajaccio and Paris Orly – Bastia lines. Opposite it, the Air Corsica-Air France group is a candidate for the four lines between Paris Orly and the Corsican airports.
Several hundred people gathered Thursday morning in front of the Corsica Assembly, at the call of the unions of the Air Corsica company who are worried about the future of the regional company if Volotea obtained the two lines it covets.
Air Corsica was created in 1989 by the Assembly of Corsica and the Collectivity of Corsica is the majority shareholder, with 66.8% of the capital. It represents 770 jobs.
© 2023 AFP
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