Le Touquet-Paris-Plage Airport in northern France is to take the name of Queen Elizabeth II in a tribute to the late monarch.
The mayor of Touquet-Paris-Plage, Daniel Fasquelle, said it was a fitting tribute for the “most British of French resorts”.
Le Touquet-Paris-Plage Airport is popular with flying clubs and general aviation traffic from the UK and elsewhere in Europe.
Tribute to Queen Elizabeth II
Writing on X, formerly Twitter, he said he had “officially obtained the agreement of King Charles III to give the name of the Queen Elizabeth II to Le Touquet Paris-Plage international airport.”
Fasquelle wrote: “Le Touquet-Paris-Plage International Airport will soon experience a historic turning point by taking the name of ‘Elizabeth II Le Touquet-Paris-Plage International Airport’.
“The agreement having been given by King Charles III, a date for the inauguration remains to be fixed.
“A Tribute to a Great Queen and her Uncle in love with France and recognition for the ‘most British of French resorts’.
“The proposal had been made to the British Crown barely six days after the death of Elizabeth II, in order to pay tribute to the exceptional life of Her Majesty, while evoking her uncle Edward VIII, who, by plane, liked to come to the airport to practice horse riding and sand yachting, sometimes accompanied by his niece, the young Elizabeth who was not yet queen at the time.”
Airport history
The airport was designed in the 1930s to welcome, by air, British customers visiting Le Touquet.
In the 1950s, it became a strong link between Great Britain and the continent, the airport of the ‘most elegant of French beaches’, and was at one point considered the third airport in France in terms of passengers, after Orly and Nice.
“In the years to come, the Elizabeth II international airport is intended to further strengthen the link between Le Touquet and Great Britain,” Fasquelle said.
The French embassy in the UK said it was a “fine tribute to the late Queen and additional proof of the ties uniting our two countries”.
Photo caption: A Bristol 170 Freighter operated by Silver City Airways as a car ferry from Lydd in Kent to Le Touquet in northern France in the late 1950s
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