| Tours Val de Loire Airport Aéroport Tours Val de Loire |
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|---|---|---|---|
| IATA: TUF – ICAO: LFOT | |||
| Summary | |||
| Airport type | Public / Military | ||
| Operator | Ministère de la Défense (FAF) | ||
| Serves | Tours, France | ||
| Elevation AMSL | 357 ft / 109 m | ||
| Website | |||
| Runways | |||
| Direction | Length | Surface | |
| m | ft | ||
| 02/20 | 2,404 | 7,887 | Concrete |
| Source: French AIP[1] | |||
Tours Val de Loire Airport[2] (French: Aéroport Tours Val de Loire[3]) (IATA: TUF, ICAO: LFOT) is an airport in the French department of Indre-et-Loire, 6 km (3.2 NM) north-northeast of the city of Tours[1] in the Loire Valley (Val de Loire). The airport is located partly on the territory of the communes of Tours and Parçay-Meslay.
The airport is open to both national and international carriers, private planes and is certified for both instrument flight and visual flight. It has daily flights to several European destinations operated by Ryanair using Boeing 737-800 aircraft, as well as non-regular flights to Lyon and Bastia. Due to its limited security measures, the airport is not open to larger carriers.
The airport is home to around 40 Alpha Jets belonging to the French Air Force , as well as a couple of Mirage fighters as part of the Vigipirate defence plan.
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The airport dates back to the 1930s, and was first used as a military base. During World War II, it was destroyed by German and British bombers }: Afterwards, the airport was used by NATO and the US Air Force before becoming a flying school in the 1950s. From the early 1960s, Tours Airport was opened to the public. During the end of the 1970s the airport enjoyed a golden period due to the local airline Touraine Air Transport (TAT), but that airline suffered a slow slump, from which the airport never really recovered until the late 1990s, when it received subventions by the Conseil Général.
The airport resides at an elevation of 357 feet (109 m) above mean sea level. It has one paved runway designated 02/20 which measures 2,404 by 45 metres (7,887 × 148 ft).[1]
| Airlines | Destinations |
|---|---|
| Ryanair | London-Stansted, Porto Seasonal: Dublin, Marseille, Manchester [begins 27 March 2012] |