Cannes or Bust » flights

Germanwings wins Cannes award with cheeky ad

admin — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 07:35:27 +0000

German low-cost airline Germanwings won an award at the 2010 Cannes Lions advertising festival with a cheeky guerilla marketing clip that shows comments supposedly being made on the rival airline Easyjet. It’s a cheeky but brilliant idea that is very simple and very effective.

Germanwings fly to many airports in Germany and Greece from Nice airport.

Eur Avia: Air France/KLM offers reductions

admin — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 08:12:29 +0000

The Eur Avia aviation trade fair is about to take place in Cannes Mandelieu airport. Partner Air France is offering special tickets.

If you intend on visiting, click this link for a special offer from Air France.

Eur-Avia Cannes covers both the new and second-hand markets, with private individuals and professionals exhibiting second-hand planes. Conferences this year include: “can airports and neighbours make good neighbours” and “buying a second-hand plane”.

Essential info if you’re stranded in Cannes

admin — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 21:12:18 +0000

This article was originally written during MIPCOM 2010, when thousands of people were stranded in Cannes and Nice due to the shutdown of European airports. The info remains useful in case of air or rail strikes, which is why I left it.

Although many people are trying to put a brave face on it, when you’re stranded in Cannes you are still stranded. Most people have jobs to get back to, and are racking up bills for hotels and trying to keep in touch with people back home.

Several Cweeps (Cannes Tweeps) useTwitter as a way of relaying news, tips and offers to share cars and coaches to people that are stranded in Cannes by French rail strikes or volcanic ash. Many visitors living on mainland Europe can find alternative ways to get home, most of which involve 15 hour trips on motorways.

For visitors that are stuck in Cannes or Nice here are a selection of information sources:

Nice airport (which can be quite slow)
French railways (the mobile version which is admirably brief)

When Cannes was hit by the fallout of volcanic ash, one of my tips was that people use car-pooling services. Try these sites:

RoadSharing

and the newer GeoGoer.

Twitter has been invaluable in providing information and hooking people up. A number of hastags sprang up, including #stranded, #ashtag, #getmehome. My tip, however, is to use the #euva hashtag, as this is used by people such as EuroControl to exchange breaking news about European air traffic.

Follow it here #euva.

EasyJet to start 6 weekly flights Nice-Rome

admin — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 08:42:48 +0000

Low cost carrier EasyJet has just announced that it will start operating 6 weekly flights between Rome Fiumicino and Nice airport as of March 12. A quick look at their site threw up prices of between €25.99 to €38.99, which seems reasonable. EasyJet flies to 15 other destinations from Nice and carried 2.1 million passengers last year.

Rome is already served by Air France, Alitalia and just one other low cost airline, Blu-Express. Our tip: if you’re coming or going to Milan, you might also want to check the special deals on Trenitalia.

Cannes news and tips to your desk

admin — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 16:44:39 +0000

If you attend Cannes for Midem, Mipim, MipTV or the Cannes Film festival, perhaps you should get the relevant news straight to your desk rather than coming across it by accident on the web. Cannes or Bust runs an occasional newsletter with just that: tips, news, special offers and links to people with bright ideas. If you follow us on Twitter, you know what we’re talking about.

So why get the news straight to your inbox as well ? Because Twitter is the instant media. Instantly there and gone just as fast. You miss things. You might want to get news about the apartments where you set the price (real offer). Or flash ticket sales from airlines. Or the apartment rental company that offered a free pass for every five people (real offer). Or last-minute hotel deals for Midem, MIPIM, MIPCOM or the festival. We don’t sell your address and you can opt-out at any time. The downside? There isn’t one! Sign up below.

Cannes news and tips to your desk or mobile

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Milow plays a showcase gig aboard a flight to Geneva

admin — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 23:01:38 +0000

Belgian singer Milow, in the charts across Europe with his version of “Ayo Technology”, was invited by Nice Airport, Kiss FM and Baboo airline to play a short set on a flight between Nice and Geneva on December 8 last. The passengers included winners of a competition on French radio Kiss FM. Baboo connects Nice to Geneva, Athens and Venice.
Ayo Technology - Single

Nice airport experiments with mobile phone boarding passes

admin — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 08:39:34 +0000

I’ve been reading for years about mobile phones being used as “tokens” that would act as concert tickets, bus passes and other uses. Nice airport is currently road-testing a system that would enable travellers to use their mobile phones as a boarding pass. After checking in (notably via the Internet), the traveller simply has to scan their phone in front of a reader at departure and do the same for the border controls. The system uses a Near Field Contact chip that means it works even when the phone’s batteries are dead (although it also means it is active everywhere you go). The system will reduce queues, save on costs (for airports) and enables travellers to be kept personally informed about departure times.

The system is being developed by Nice Côte d’Azur airport, Amadeus, Air France and IER using members of the Gold Club Airport Premier and Air France Flying Blue clubs in the experiment. The trial started in April 2009 and will run until September 2009. Nice airport services the French Riviera towns such as Nice, Cannes, Monaco and Antibes.

Toulon airport to Cannes

admin — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 13:43:43 +0000

I occasionally get questions about reaching Cannes from Toulon airport. It’s certainly a cheap option as the flights are nearly all from low-cost carriers, but not very practical if you’re trying to reach Cannes. Airlines flying there include Air France, Ryanair, Transavia and Jetairfly. Six cities are serviced: Paris, London, Rome, Brest, Brussels and Stockholm. However, as it is a regional airport, you can get there later than other airports to check in. The building is pretty, set in wooded landscape with Provençal-style architecture and a view of the hills.

Toulon is on the main high-speed TGV line between Marseilles and Cannes. There is no direct train connection at the airport. The main problem with it is that there are only about 5 bus connections to Toulon station per day, a trip of about 35 minutes (check the timetable to coordinate connections). So if you’re not careful, you will end up waiting for the bus at the airport and then waiting for a train to Cannes or Nice at the station. If you are willing to rent a car, it could work out cheaper than flying to Nice airport. The airport is about an hour’s drive to Cannes along the main A57 motorway.

For more information, visit the Toulon airport website in French.

How do you get from Toulon airport to Cannes? It’s about 130km from the airport to Cannes. If you don’t want to take a taxi or rent a car, take the 210 bus to Toulon station (about €1.40) and then catch a direct train to Cannes, roughly 1 hour 15 minutes (about €20).

If anyone knows any better ways to reach Cannes from Toulon, just drop a message below.

Midem deadline fast approaching

admin — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 14:15:52 +0000

If you’re thinking about attending Midem in Cannes this year, don’t wait too long to decide. The Early Bird deadline is on December 21. The price of €805 represents a 25% discount over the walk-in rate. I also did a quick check with hotels and airlines. Most of the hotels in the inner “banana” (the area closest to the Palais in Cannes) are booked. However there are still rooms available in the “residences” outside town at reasonable prices. Shuttle buses are available to reach these. Some cheap flights can still be booked (although I only checked the European airlines flying to Nice airport).

Good luck – and maybe see you down there. For more info and bookings, visit Midem.com.

Prisoner breaks out using helicopter – again

admin — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 14:00:40 +0000

A helicopter from Cannes was used in a daring breakout recently. Pascal Payet organsied for a helicopter hijacked from Cannes to land on the roof of his prison, and then fly him to Brignoles north of Toulon. This is the third helicopter escape Payet, a convicted murderer, has been involved in. The pilot was released unharmed.