Fury in France as popular seaside town hit with 288 flights in one day

A beautiful and popular seaside town in the French Riviera is being plagued with frequent airplane traffic bound for its nearby airport. Although the Nice Côte d'Azur Airport is located about 12 miles away, the "constant" stream of flights passing overhead is causing significant disturbance to the residents of Antibes. Located between the cities of Nice and Cannes, Antibes is known for its historic remparts, the Picasso Museum overlooking the sea, Europe's largest marina filled with yachts, and of course, the stunning Cap d'Antibes with its crystal-clear waters and coves lined in pine trees.

On July 26, local resident and president of the Committee against overflights in Antibes (CLUSA), Philippe Juvin, launched a petition on Change.org, calling for an end to the planes flying over Antibes Juan-les-Pins and Golfe-Juan which he said have become "more and more unbearable." Juvin is urging that these planes be redirected to fly over the sea instead.

The petition reads: "We live in an area where the noise from planes landing at Nice Airport is becoming increasingly unbearable. The interval between each landing is short, with a plane landing every 2 to 3 minutes for hours on end, day and night, causing significant disruption to the quality of life and sleep of residents in this area. Beyond the noise pollution, this situation causes stress and pollution for those who live there."

"We are calling for the introduction of more accurate satellite guidance (RNP AR technology), which would enable flight paths to be adjusted so that virtually all aircraft fly over the sea to land at Nice Airport, even in cloudy weather, thus avoiding Antibes Juan les Pins and Golfe Juan.

"This solution already exists and has been implemented by other airports. Its implementation in Nice, in the 04 direction, depends solely on the willingness of the stakeholders."

The petition has now garnered 1,196 signatures. Juvin also told BFMTV: "On one day, Whit Monday, we had 288 flights passing overhead, which means one every three minutes for 11 hours."

The airport has disputed some of the claims made in the petition, including the assertion that there is "one plane every 2 to 3 minutes for hours, day and night."

A spokesperson for Côte d'Azur Airports, Aymeric Staub, told Nice Matin: "Since the start of July, the rate of planes flying over the city has been barely 8.67% of total arrivals. All these overflights are justified by weather conditions where the cloud ceiling is below 762m, visibility is 10km, and the Antibes avoidance procedure cannot be carried out."

Regarding CLUSA's call for satellite navigation technology to reroute nearly all flights over the sea rather than populated areas like Antibes, Staub pointed out that only 14% of aircraft serving Nice are currently equipped with this technology, Nice Matin reported.

Full adoption depends on airlines investing in the necessary upgrades and pilot training. It's a gradual process overseen by the air navigation service, not the airport itself.

Nice Côte d'Azur is France's second busiest airport, with over 14 million passengers every year. The airport is also working to expand its Terminal 2 by 25,000 square meters to boost annual passenger capacity from 14 million to 18 million.

However, there has been some opposition to the project from environmental groups and local residents, who are concerned about increased air traffic, noise pollution, over-tourism, and the environmental impact on the surrounding area.