Flights to 'Paris-Vatry Disney' anyone?
Just don’t mention that this airport is almost 100 miles from Paris!
Ever one to believe in the mantra that records are there to be broken, Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary now brings us Paris-Vatry Disney, an airport which smashes Hahn into touch by being a whopping 97 miles from Paris on slow roads - allow three hours to get into central Paris. The "fast" route takes a mere 2hrs30, but adds 35 miles onto the trip. The journey time to Disneyland is not much better – two hours on the motorway. Compare that with Paris's main Charles De Gaulle Airport, which is a 30 minute train ride from the centre of Paris and just ten minutes by train from the Disney complex.
Vatry lies close to the famed Champagne wine region and the historic city of Reims. Surely it would therefore make sense to market Vatry as 'Reims-Champagne' instead? Even the snobbiest of Krug enthusiasts would happily fly with Ryanair if they offered the most convenient option for getting to the heart of the quaffing action.
Alas the no-frills giant is more cynical than that. I would assume their plan is to offer flights to Vatry from cities that have poor flight connections with Paris and are far enough away to be unable to tap into Europe's high-speed rail network, much as they have already done successfully at Beauvais, 56 miles north of Paris.
Could Vatry provide a viable alternative for Brits looking for flights to Paris who don't have easy access to Eurostar services? In a word, no. Vatry is simply too far from Paris and Disneyland to be a convenient option. Instead, it is much better to look for flights to Paris Charles de Gaulle airport, which are available from most departure points across the UK. There is plenty of competition from most regions, so finding cheap flights shouldn't be a problem either.
About the Author
Mark Avery
Mark Avery wanted to be a Concorde pilot, but being colour blind put a halt to that particular career path. The demise of Concorde didn't help matters either! He took up journalism instead. Following a stint moaning about Coventry City's plight for a living, the dad of two girls is now is in charge of all things editorial at flightmapping.com.
Comments (7)
HRB
You also failed to mention the it is often a lot easier to pick up a hire car in these smaller airports than it is in a vast complex like Paris Charles de Gaulle, which most seasoned travellers I know hate anyway.
I think that with the A4 autoroute, these cities could be easily accessible from Vatry airport, not to mention heading in the other direction to Reims, with its fascinating new cultural centre. Ryanair have even offered flights to Reims before, so why would a return to this area be pointless?
Mark Avery
You make some valid points about cities like Strasbourg or Luxembourg, but that wasn't what the article was about. You could stretch your argument further - flights to Basel are only available from a handful of British airports, so if you were planning on using Basel airport and then heading west into France, then Vatry could be an alternative to that too, and likewise for Dijon as Eastern Airways haven't repeated their flights from Southampton there this year.
With regards to car hire
Zhang Yao
James Avery
Mark Avery
As stated in my blog above, Vatry airport is a long, long way from Paris. The shuttle bus from Vatry to the nearest train station (Chalons-en-Champagne) takes around 25 minutes. From there allow at least 1hr40 to get into central Paris (Paris Est) by rail. There are three hire car companies serving Vatry, but note that the quickest route into the French capital takes anywhere between two to three hours depending on traffic.
Thomas
James Avery
Cheapflights is a price comparison site. They are not an agent and do not actually sell flights. There are plenty of other sites offering similar price comparison tools (Skyscanner, Momondo, Kayak etc). Cheapflights don't list a number of no-frills airlines, including Ryanair, so you would be wasting your time using them if you are looking for flights to Vatry.
It is also worth noting that there is actually very little competition on most flight routes, so your best bet would be to use Flightmapping to see who flies where and then follow the link straight to the relevant airline.
Thanks,
Mark