Lyon Airport Guide
Situated approximately 20 kilometres east of the city, Lyon Saint-Exupery airport is the fourth busiest airport in France. Each year 8.5 million people use Lyon airport with many of those during the winter months travelling on to France’s excellent ski resorts.
Lyon is France’s second city after Paris and this is one of the main provincial airports serving the Rhone-Alpes region as well as surrounding areas. Originally opened in 1975 as Lyon Satolas Airport it has developed in to a modern international airport with a high footfall through its two terminals. In the year 2000, on the centenary of his birth, the airport was renamed after local aviation pioneer and writer Antoine de Saint-Exupery.
In 2017 a new, larger terminal 1 was opened and the small terminal 3 was removed. Lyon airport now has two terminals – terminal 1 for domestic flights and terminal 2 for international flights. A good number of international and low-cost European airlines have regular flights to Lyon including; Aer Lingus, Air France, British Airways, EasyJet, FlyBe and Wizz Air.
Lyon airport has excellent onward transport links both by rail and road. The high-speed TGV rail line was completed in 1994 and connects Lyon airport with both Paris and Marseille. When travelling by road it is very quick to get on the local highways which take you all over France. Transfers to the Southern Alps resorts of Alpe d’Huez and Les Deux Alpes take approximately 2 hours, while the Three Valleys resorts of Meribel, Courchevel & Val Thorens are approximately 2.5 hours drive away.
