2023-11-15 13:45:17
It is the symbol of the “Small Châteaudun Airport” project. Since the beginning of November, a Wassmer CE-43 “Guépard” has been parked in one of the hangars of the former air base 279 in Châteaudun (Eure-et-Loir). This plane, a single engine, can carry five people. Exactly the type of aircraft that the president of Grand Châteaudun wants to seduce. “We are only an hour and a half from Paris but above all here, it is clearly four to five times cheaper,” praises Fabien Verdier.
Above all, the old air base benefits from a considerable number of hangars to house the planes and keep them protected from bad weather. The former air base 279 “Lieutenant Marcel Beau” offers six large hangars for an enormous storage capacity of 70,000 m² but also eight “hangettes” of 700 m² each “ideal for parking a Falcon, a Cessna…”. For comparison, the airports of Brest (Finistère) or Nice (Alpes-Maritimes) offer 3000m² of storage hangars.
A plane, but already a site in financial balance
The Wassmer still seems very alone in the HM4 metal hangar of 4100 m². “The market says yes, it’s the first customer. We are increasing our capacity. I am convinced that it will fill up quickly,” adds the elected official. “This plane is the first stage of the rocket, but the launch was successful,” rejoices the forty-year-old. The territory’s project is to maintain the old military infrastructures to create an entire economy around aeronautics. One year after taking charge of the site, 12% of the site is currently occupied. Between the rents received, the revenue from state occupancy in rental of spaces, the hotel industry, or mess, the turnover after thirteen months is around 1.6 million euros and allows financial balance.
On November 7, the DSAC (Civil Aviation Safety Department) approved the Châteaudun runway (Eure-et-Loir) to receive turbojet aircraft.
Because in addition to planes, it is not uncommon to come across CRS in the heart of the old base. On October 16, the Ministry of the Interior and the Grand Châteaudun signed an agreement for the occupation of the site which serves as a training camp for sixty general service companies from all over France. “They are staying in the one hundred and twenty room hotel at the airfield. It’s security for the site and it brings in revenue,” confirms Fabien Verdier.
The runway approved for transatlantic flights
The DSAC (Aviation Civil Security Department) has just approved the runway (1028), 2,300 meters long, for turbojet aircraft. “This is wonderful and good news. Concretely, a Cessna Citation Mustang business jet can land or take off in Châteaudun or even better a Falcon 7X from Dassault with fifteen passengers after a 10,000km flight,” explains Fabien Verdier. “That means that it could arrive from the United States,” jubilant the elected official.
“It’s one more step forward, there are certainly hundreds left but it’s officially the relaunch of this 430 hectare site. Each activity brings in revenue which will make it possible to further improve places such as the control towers, the hangars, the taxiway… Revenue which will also be guaranteed by the enormous solar power plant with 196,000 panels which will be put into service gradually at the end 2024 and which will allow Grand Châteaudun to become a Positive Energy Territory (TEP).
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