This is the ultimate airport for aviation geeks

The airport

Toulouse-Blagnac Airport (TLS)

Simple design, streamlined operations.

The flight

Aer Lingus EI0533 from Toulouse to Dublin.

The arrival

For aviation geeks, Toulouse-Blagnac is the dream airport. The first Concorde took off from here in 1969. In 2005, it was the turn of the Airbus A380. Both planes are among those on display at the nearby Aeroscopia museum, next door to Airbus headquarters (which you can also tour) at the northern tip of the airport zone. Airbus also uses one of the runways for flight tests and deliveries.

As we arrive in the outskirts of Toulouse by car, the route to the airport is well signposted, the approach is easy to navigate and there is little traffic on the road. Public transport options from the city centre will be bolstered when the direct tram line reopens in 2026. For the moment, the best option is the airport bus, which takes 25 minutes to downtown Toulouse and costs €9 ($14.70).

The look

In a word: indistinct. A single, long, three-storey concrete block of a building split into four halls with sky-high ceilings and shiny stone floors. It’s calm, clean and hard to believe more than 7.8 million passed through in 2023, given the quiet entrance. Where is everyone?

Checking in

The gates and waiting areas at Toulouse.

Our family of four is travelling with hand luggage only for a long weekend in Dublin, but as we pass the check-in area I notice only a handful of self-check-in kiosks. The queue to check in for our flight spills out of the roped-off lanes. It’s perhaps the only stress test in the whole experience.

Security

Turkish Airlines connects Toulouse with the rest of the world via Istanbul, and two big billboards advertising its service to Australia bookend the entry and exit to security. That’s about the sole noteworthy point in a process that is blissfully smooth and speedy for an August morning in the French summer holidays.

Food + drink

There’s nothing much here, beyond the usual suspects of baguettes, burgers and a bar to inspire, although, before security, Le Panorama restaurant is tucked away on the top floor for a sit-down meal with runway views. They proudly call a pain au chocolat a chocolatine in this part of the world, and apart from Parisian baker Eric Kayser’s boulangerie counter, this proud slogan of south-western French identity is loud and clear on T-shirts and canvas bags with the slogan “ici on dit chocolatine” (here we say chocolatine) on sale on the concourse.

Retail therapy

Apart from aviation, the other big passion in Toulouse is rugby, so I’m not surprised to find a Stade Toulousain store selling team merchandise. Nearby, Visionnaire is a made-in-Toulouse clothing brand with a unisex collection of bright logo garments. The duty-free store claims to sell more than 800 pairs of sunglasses alone, but I prefer to browse the display of local souvenirs, including Berdoues perfume, violet-infused sweets and scents from Maison de la Violette and even honey made from hives at the airport itself.

Passing time

An Airbus Beluga landing at Toulouse.Credit: Bloomberg

Floor-to-ceiling glass windows at the departure gates look directly onto the runway and just across from the terminal is the Airbus A300-600ST — or Beluga — hangar. Five of the wide-bodied “super transporters” are parked up outside. While my eyesight (and planespotting cred) isn’t good enough to identify whether they are the standard model or the BelugaXL, I do appreciate this is a rare sighting, as only 11 of the whale-shaped cargo planes exist overall.

The verdict

I’ve flown out of many French regional airports and none flow as freely, or feel so calm, as this. Yes, the food and retail offering could be more inspired, but for anyone with even a passing interest in planes, none of that matters as you taxi down the runway past the collection of aviation curios that call Toulouse-Blagnac home.

Our rating out of five

★★★½

The writer travelled at her own expense.