Châteauroux-Centre "Marcel Dassault" Airport

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"
Summary
Airport typePublic
OperatorAéroport Châteauroux-Centre
ServesChâteauroux
LocationDéols, Indre, France
Elevation AMSL529 ft / 161 m
Coordinates46°51′37″N 001°43′16″E
Websitechateauroux-airport.com
Maps

Location of Centre region in France
LFLX
Location in Centre-Val de Loire region
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
03/21 3,500 11,483 Concrete
Source: French AIP,[1] UAF,[2] Airport[3]

Facilities

Châteauroux-Centre Airport resides 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 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.

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.

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" and relies on road transport.

Since 1 January 2000, the Châteauroux-Center 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 on which are installed, in 2020, the following companies:

  • Dale Aviation Ltd: specialized in the line maintenance of commercial aircraft Airbus and Boeing. 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.
  • Egide Aviation: specialized in aircraft maintenance, helicopters up to 5,700 kg (12,600 lb), avionics and airworthiness management.
  • Satys: specialized in aeronautical painting with four aircraft paint shops. These comprise 1 bay for aircraft up to ATR72 size, 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, some Airbus A340 and some Boeing 777.
  • Vallair: on site of Chateauroux, the company is specialized in the 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 into a freighter plane.
  • Veolia Aero Recycling France: subsidiary of Veolia, has an aircraft decommissioning platform of 10,000 m2 (110,000 sq ft).

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

Passenger

For 2020, the airport offers many charter flights during the spring-summer seasons, notably to Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Crete, Egypt, Jordan, Lapland, Madeira Island, Faro / Lisbon and Porto in Portugal (February-October 2020 program).

Cargo

There are no regular cargo flights at Chateauroux airport. Currently, only cargo charter flights are operated. The most frequent users are AirBridgeCargo and Silk Way West Airlines with Boeing 747, EgyptAir Cargo with A330-200P2F, as well as Antonov Airlines and Volga-Dnepr Airlines with Antonov An-124 and Ilyushin IL-76.

Access

The A20 passes close to the airport.

The airport is served by bus number 5 from the centre of Chateauroux.[4]

References
  1. LFLX – CHÂTEAUROUX DÉOLS. AIP from French Service d'information aéronautique, effective 18 June 2020.
  2. (in French) Aéroport de Châteauroux – Centre (CHR / LFLX) Archived 27 March 2010 at the Wayback Machine at L'Union des Aéroports Français
  3. (in French) Aéroport de Châteauroux-Centre "Marcel Dassault", official site
  4. http://www.bus-horizon.com
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