By settling in Tresserve, in Savoie, Julien Zmyslowski and his partner thought they would arrive in “a haven of peace”. The village that inspired Lake to the poet Alphonse de Lamartine offers a breathtaking view of Lake Bourget. But, deplores the young couple, “we have drug trafficking in the town hall parking lot and planes in the valley…” Because, not far from there, the Chambéry-Savoie-Mont Blanc airport, whose commercial activities date back to 1960, is operating at full capacity: from December 15 to April 15, charters transport thousands of British people to the resorts. Thirty arrivals and thirty departures for big days, especially in February. Not counting private jets, a tiny part of the traffic, specifies Frédéric Richer, the director of the airport administered by Vinci. With a maximum of four flights per hour until 9 p.m., the airport’s total traffic represented one hundred and sixty-nine thousand passengers in 2022-2023.
In a department which derives half of its wealth from tourism, Julien Zmyslowski recognizes its usefulness but would be in favor of stopping it: “ We are forced to drive electric cars. There are not many of them in their private jet and they take it every weekend. » At the end of the afternoon, while the children are having fun on the playground, in front of the Tresserve school, Laurence Roux, a resident of the village, takes out the sulphate machine, at the mention of the subject . “The ecologists are after the jetsshe gets angry. This is punitive ecology. It’s like the Parisian bobos who come to the countryside: they are against the ringing bells and the farting cows. The airport is busy and busy. We must keep it! »
Supported by the left and environmentalists, the debate on the legitimacy of the airport (less than an hour and a half from Lyon) is nevertheless gaining momentum. The effects of global warming, very visible in the Alps, make us think. ” When I was young, remembers Arthur Boix-Neveu, 30 years old, Generation mayor. s of Barberaz, near Chambéry, I flew back from the United Kingdom, where I was on Erasmus. I thought it was great that I got up at 8 a.m. and arrived by noon. » And then he took “a blow on the face” by becoming aware of the risks weighing on the planet.
For him, as for a certain number of local elected officials, residents or activists, an airport used by 2% of skiers, four months a year, fueling polluting traffic to run a tourist activity that has been condemned due to lack of snow, is no longer justified. Let’s close it, proposed Arthur Boix-Neveu to his counterparts in the Grand Chambéry agglomeration. “Everyone looked at me with wide eyes, he remembers. They told me: “You’re going to kill winter tourism.” But no ! We’re just going to ask 2% of tourists to travel differently…” The British could reach the Alps by TGV via Paris, he suggests.
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