Quimper Airport: frying on the line between the Finistère Department and the Brittany Region – Bretagne

After the sea, and the fleet exit plan, the sky of Cornwall is veiled again. In November 2023, Quimper airport will no longer offer regular lines to Orly. And maybe tomorrow, nothing at all. This complex debate, which combines questions of regional planning and financing, provokes the first political turbulence, against the backdrop of the thorny issue of mobility (train, plane) in Finistère. At the time of settling the accounts of the Public Service Obligation (€3.30 million/year since 2019) in Quimper, a little music rises on the political responsibilities of this failure. The question is not small on the Breton tip when the future of the Brest-Orly line and the fate of the Morlais company Céleste are being played out at the same time.

Loïg Chesnais-Girard targets bad payers

To demine, Loïg Chesnais-Girard repeated, this Tuesday, May 23, that the Region will be at the financial rendezvous until 2023. “Which is not the case for all communities”, insisted on specifying the boss of the Region, who lit the fuse by aiming without naming the departmental council of Finistère. A dispute opposes, in fact, the majority of Maël de Calan to the Region since the latter claimed from him, a few months ago, the balance of any account of his contribution to the OSP, i.e. 1.20 M€ ( €300,000/year). A way of saying that the defenders of the site are not always the good payers. At the departmental council, the reimbursement request would have arrived at the Quimper office when the Region announced, quietly, its withdrawal from the site. A stroke of the penknife in the initial objectives according to the Department which intended to invest in the development of the structure and not its cessation.

As usual, we will respect our commitments if all the partners respect theirs

No future for the airport, no payment

But above all, this financing agreement, based on a single political agreement with the former socialist majority of Nathalie Sarrabezolles, has not had a legal translation since 2019. The credits, entered in the budget of the Department, would not have been called . In a letter sent to Loïg Chesnais-Girard in January 2023, Maël de Calan now conditions financial support on the presentation of a future prospect for the site beyond 2023. When questioned, the president of the Department, limits himself to an hour to precise communication: “I remain extremely vigilant as to the involvement of the Region in the accessibility of Finistère. We are now waiting for concrete proposals to move in this direction. As usual, we will respect our commitments if all the partners respect theirs”. Otherwise, he will not pay the €1.20 million.

Beyond the airport, this file would be, according to our information, the illustration of recurring tensions between the two communities for the financing of Finistère construction sites. Enough to feed again the criticism of the Rennes metropolitan hegemony. As for the airport, Société Aéroport de Cornouaille, the manager of the structure, is due to speak very soon. And perhaps say what will be the fate of the platform, property of the Brittany Region.