Châteauroux-Centre "Marcel Dassault" Airport (French: Aéroport de Châteauroux-Centre "Marcel Dassault", IATA: CHR, ICAO: LFLX), formerly known as Châteauroux-Déols "Marcel Dassault" Airport, is an airport serving the French city of Châteauroux.[1] The airport is located 5.5 km (3.0 NM) north-northeast of Châteauroux[1] in Déols, a commune of the Indre department in the Centre-Val de Loire region in France. The airport is named after Marcel Dassault and is located on the site of the former Châteauroux-Déols Air Base. It is dedicated to air freight, aeronautical maintenance, pilot training and training of airport firefighters.
Châteauroux-Centre "Marcel Dassault" Airport Aéroport de Châteauroux-Centre "Marcel Dassault" | |||||||||||
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| Summary | |||||||||||
| Airport type | Public, cargo and industrial | ||||||||||
| Operator | Aéroport Châteauroux-Centre | ||||||||||
| Serves | Châteauroux | ||||||||||
| Location | Déols, Indre, France | ||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 529 ft / 161 m | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 46°51′37″N 001°43′16″E / 46.86028°N 1.72111°E | ||||||||||
| Website | chateauroux-airport.com | ||||||||||
| Maps | |||||||||||
 Location of Centre region in France | |||||||||||
  LFLX Location in Centre-Val de Loire region | |||||||||||
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| Runways | |||||||||||
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Facilities
editChâteauroux-Centre Airport is at an elevation of 529 feet (161 m) above mean sea level. It has one paved runway designated 03/21 which measures 3,500 by 45 metres (11,483 ft × 148 ft).[1] The airport is used by both passenger and cargo planes.
Châteauroux-Centre Airport serves as a pilot training site for both commercial and military planes. Users of the facility include: Airbus, Air Caraïbes, Air France, ATR, the Belgian Air Force, British Airways, EasyJet, KLM, the French Air and Space Force, French Bee, Hi Fly, Lufthansa, Swiss International Air Lines and Transavia France with all types of aircraft up to the Airbus A380 and Boeing 747.[4]
In the years 1990 to 2000, the airport was used regularly by Air France and British Airways to train future pilots and flight crews for Concorde.[5]
The Châteauroux airport has also devoted part of its activity to air freight. Its predominantly industrial vocation allows it to handle all types of aircraft (such as the An-225) and cargo 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This is a transit airport that does not no "slot"[6] and relies on road transport.
Since August 2020, Châteauroux-Centre airport has been one of 23 pelicandromes for the supply of sécurité civile Bombardier Q400MR in case of need. [7]
Since 1 January 2000, the Châteauroux-Centre airport has been an 'authorized cargo security agent'. It is one of the few French airports that made this approach and obtained the approval of the French Civil Aviation Authority. (DGAC) This allows it to offer shippers, carriers and freight forwarders a "cargo security" service controlled by the airport security supervisor.
The airport has a large aeronautical maintenance area called " Chateauroux Air Center " on which the following companies are installed in 2024:
- AAA Aero: on the Châteauroux airport, this company is in charge of providing maintenance and assistance services to Airbus aircraft awaiting delivery such as Airbus A320neo, Airbus A330neo and Airbus A350 XWB.[8]
- Dale Aviation: specialized in the transition and maintenance of commercial aircraft Airbus A320 family, Airbus A330 and Airbus A340 as well as Boeing 737, Boeing 757, and Boeing 777. Dale Aviation also stores aircraft with operational support and it can also ensure the dismantling and recycling of aircraft at the end of the life.[9]
- Paprec: has an aircraft dismantling and recycling platform of 10,000 m2 (110,000 sq ft).[10]
- Satys: specialized in surface finishing and aeronautical painting with four aircraft paint shops. These comprise 1 bay for regional aircraft up to ATR 72 or Embraer ERJ 145, 1 bay for narrow body aircraft up to Airbus A321 or Boeing 757 and 2 bays for wide body aircraft up to Airbus A330 / Airbus A330neo, Airbus A340-300, Boeing 777-200ER and soon Airbus A350 XWB.[11]
- Vallair: on site of Chateauroux, the company is specialized in the storage, transition and maintenance of Airbus A320 family and Airbus A330, dismantling of end-of-life aircraft and engines with recovery and repair of elements for the maintenance market as well as the conversion of Airbus A321 and Airbus A330 into a freighter plane.[12]
Thus, the airport is a "one stop shop"; that is to say that a commercial aircraft owner (airline, lessor) finds all the activities (storage, maintenance, painting, cargo conversion, dismantling and recycling) on one and the same site.
C2FPA, an airport fire fighter training center, is based at Châteauroux-Centre Airport. The center offers certification specializing in areas like aviation fire protection and wildlife hazard control.
The business cluster Aérocentre is located on the airport.
Airlines and destinations
editPassenger
editThe airport offers for 2024 around ten "charter" flights during the spring-summer season, such as Portugal, Canary Islands, Croatia and Montenegro, Malta, Jordan or Greece.[13]
Cargo
editThere are no regular cargo flights at Chateauroux airport. Currently, only cargo charter flights are operated.
Statistics
editGraphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org. |
Access
editThe A20 passes close to the airport.
The airport is served by bus number 6 from the centre of Chateauroux.[14]
References
edit- ^ a b c d LFLX – CHÂTEAUROUX DÉOLS. AIP from French Service d'information aéronautique, effective 31 October 2024.
- ^ (in French) Aéroport de Châteauroux – Centre (CHR / LFLX) Archived 27 March 2010 at the Wayback Machine at L'Union des Aéroports Français
- ^ (in French) Aéroport de Châteauroux-Centre "Marcel Dassault", official site
- ^ "L'aéroport de Châteauroux porté par les vents contraires de la Covid" (in French). 27 May 2021. Retrieved 27 May 2021..
- ^ "Déols : la riche histoire commune du Concorde et de l'aéroport Marcel-Dassault" (in French). 14 March 2019. Retrieved 14 March 2019..
- ^ "VIDEO - Le plus gros avion du monde, passé par l'aéroport de Châteauroux, détruit par l'armée russe" (in French). 28 February 2022. Retrieved 28 February 2022..
- ^ "L'aéroport de Châteauroux se prépare pour le ravitaillement de bombardiers d'eau" (in French). 16 August 2020. Retrieved 16 August 2020..
- ^ "Châteauroux : à l'aéroport, "les profils qualifiés sont plus difficiles à recruter"" (in French). Retrieved 22 April 2022..
- ^ "À Châteauroux, Dale aviation attend que le brouillard se lève sur l'aviation" (in French). Retrieved 30 May 2020..
- ^ "Aéroports du Centre-Val de Loire et du Poitou : davantage de trafic et d'entreprises ?" (in French). 10 February 2024. Retrieved 10 February 2024..
- ^ "Aéroport de Châteauroux : le site de peinture d'avion est "unique en Europe" selon le repreneur Satys" (in French). 5 November 2019. Retrieved 5 November 2019..
- ^ "L'aéroport de Châteauroux-Déols inaugure un nouveau immense hangar" (in French). July 2022. Retrieved 1 July 2022..
- ^ "Ténérife, Corfou, la Crète, la Sardaigne... L'agence Destinations lance des charters à partir de Châteauroux" (in French). 4 September 2021. Retrieved 4 September 2021..
- ^ "Home". bus-horizon.com.
External links
edit- Aeronautical chart and airport information for LFLX at SkyVector
- Current weather for LFLX at NOAA/NWS
- Accident history for CHR at Aviation Safety Network
- Airport information for CHR at Great Circle Mapper.