The operations department is responsible for three main tasks:
- Operating Lille Airport’s facilities and resources
- Assisting the airlines with passenger handling
- Providing information to operators on the platform and to passengers.
The operations department could be described as the airport’s central nervous system: it processes information received, then distributes it and uses it to activate the different Airport services, the ‘limbs’.

Information services:
Information forms the basis of the airport’s operations. The operations department uses flight information from airlines and other airports to assess the resource levels necessary to handle passengers: check-in desks, boarding lounges, runway-buses, passenger footbridges etc.
It shares all this information with all the service providers and partners concerned (airport assistant, Baggage Inspection services, State services, businesses etc.) via its own Internal Airport Information System and flight forecasting programmes
Finally, information services are provided by eight hostesses who continually staff the Passenger Terminal’s Information Desk on a rotating basis.

Facilities operations services:
The operations department is responsible for the technical supervision of the proper working of the passenger handling equipment (baggage conveyors, BIP (Border Inspection Posts) , check-in system, the information boards, announcements etc.) and organises interventions when necessary.
It also oversees the well-being of passengers by supervising the ‘comfort’ equipment (air conditioning/heating, lighting, escalators, lifts) and service equipment (car park pay points, telephones, vending machines etc.)
It works in close collaboration with the maintenance services and is helped in this by a computerised Centralised Technical Management (CTM) system which reports and gives notification on any mechanical faults which occur with the installations.
Finally, the operations department supervises security in the terminal, which is classified as an ‘ERP building’ (building open to the public). When there is an alarm, the operations department personnel carry out an ‘emergency confirmation’ process, checking the validity of the alarm in less than 5 minutes.

Airline assistance tasks:
For the airlines, the operations department must guarantee the rapid processing of passengers in the terminal in order to avoid delays in the aircraft flight schedules. To do this, it boards and disembarks passengers by passenger footbridges or runway buses at the scheduled time and within the allowed time limits. It also provides assistance to Passengers with Reduced Mobility (PRM). PRM assistance is provided by the Airport on behalf of the airline.
Finally, it assists the general aviation companies, that is to say business aviation, private VIP jets, as well as flying clubs or even military flights or emergency medical flights (organ transportation, evacuations etc.)

The commercial department’s essential task is the development of Lille airport’s activities, whether aviation-related or not.

Development of the service proposal
With regard to aviation activities, the department is working to persuade airlines to launch new services from Lille Airport. Therefore it is in regular contact with airline managers, to whom it promotes both Lille Airport’s advantages and the traffic potential of its trade area, identified by market studies, regular analysis of traffic statistics and continuous monitoring of the competition.
The department approaches regional, national and international Tour Operators (in Belgium and elsewhere) in the same way. It also works to facilitate partnerships between Tour Operators to create synergies which consolidate the offer of ‘holiday’ departures from Lille Airport.
In relation to non-aviation activities, it identifies potential in terms of new businesses or services which could be offered by Lille Airport. Development of demand.
The Commercial Department works to promote the offer of journeys/tours which depart from Lille Airport. Through brochures, advertisements and a website, the organisation of the annual Escape Fair (the first regional travel and tourism fair of the season) and by direct approaches to businesses, travel agencies, Tour Operators etc. it contributes to increasing public awareness of these service offers.
The Commercial Department also carries out potentiality studies and satisfaction surveys to identify areas for improvement and progression for the services and businesses at Lille Airport.

The Technical Department is focussed around three areas of activity:
- New projects
- Maintenance
- Information Technology

For each of these elements, the main objective is the same: to satisfy the needs of passengers and airport customers (airlines, commercial and office space leases etc.) under the best conditions in terms of quality and cost.

New Projects
The New Projects department’s role is first and foremost an engineering role for Lille Airport. It defines the needs, resources and methods required to carry out a project, in most cases by issuing invitations to tender.
Its role is also to supervise work undertaken by other companies, including acceptance of the work.
The new projects department’s field of competence is very wide, ranging from general roads and utilities to ground lighting and planning office spaces or the construction of buildings.
In 2005-2006, works in progress are:
- Extending the aircraft parking area at the Passenger terminal
- Repairing the drop-off point
- Repairing part of the main runway (touch-down area)
- Redesigning the public car parks management system

Maintenance
The Maintenance department’s responsibility is to control, maintain and if necessary repair, all the equipment and installations managed by Lille Airport.
So its field of action is particularly broad, as it is responsible for the maintenance of the ‘critical’ equipment, that is, the equipment which has a direct impact on flights and passenger handling (baggage conveyance, footbridges etc.), and also for buildings and equipment maintenance (car parks, terminal, hangars, fencing, roads and utilities, telephone networks, electrics, sanitation etc.).
The Maintenance department also maintains the ground lighting. This is a very important aspect of Lille Airport’s activity because the runways, used 24 hours a day, are classified ‘Category 3’, which means it has to accommodate landings in all weather (100 metres visibility).
Finally, the maintenance department is responsible for snow removal and de-icing the runways to make Lille Airport’s installations accessible 24 hours a day.
* also see Operations

Safety at Lille Airport is a generic term covering a wide variety of tasks. These tasks are focussed around three areas of activity:
- The Crash Rescue and Aircraft Fire-fighting Service (CRAFS)
- The prevention of bird strike hazards
- Supervising the safety rules related to buildings which are officially classified as a ‘buildings open to the public’ (BOP).
At Lille Airport, this task is supervised by a Safety Manager, who heads a team of fire-fighters and several multidisciplinary personnel.
Crash Rescue and Aircraft Fire-fighting Service task
This task has been delegated by the State to Lille Airport services.
The Crash Rescue and Aircraft Fire-fighting Service‘s role is to:
- Supervise fuelling operations (refuelling aircraft with aviation fuel) with passengers on board
- Deal with accidental spillages
- Provide first-aid to accident victims (an ankle sprained on a staircase, falls, illness etc.)
- Carry out preventive bird strike hazard operations
The Crash Rescue and Aircraft Fire-fighting Service is on standby 24 hours a day, with a response time of less than three minutes.
In Lille, there are 28 assigned agents housed in a building which was specially constructed in 2004, in close proximity to the runways and installations.

Prevention of bird strike hazards
Prevention of bird strike hazards involves preventing the risk of birds being sucked into the jet engines. A team regularly inspects the runways and if necessary scares away the birds by means of sound recordings and/or explosive cartridges. Task: to supervise the safety rules related to buildings with a ‘building open to the public’ classification.
Because the State has defined the safety rules for buildings which are open to the public, Lille Airport ensures compliance with these rules (restrictions regarding fire resistance in materials and building components, the proper working of safety equipment – smoke extraction, extinguishers, alarms, fire detectors etc.)
To fulfil these tasks, the Safety Manager relies on a multidisciplinary team whose job is to check the equipment using a Centralised Technical Management system*.
*also see the Operations section.
Security in figures
- 1 Safety Manager
- 10 multidisciplinary personnel to monitor the terminal’s compliance with the rules on buildings open to the public.
- 28 Crash Rescue and Aircraft Fire-fighting personnel in total, in roster-organised teams of 5 fire-fighters
- 24 Fire-fighters are on operational standby 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
- 3 minutes. This is the maximum response time to any part of the runways
- 2 Fire engines (9,000 litres of water and 225 kg of powder; 6,000 litres of water and 225 kg of powder)
- 1 vehicle for bird strike hazard operations

In spite of numerous warnings given out at travel agencies, in the Lille Airport timetable or posted around the passenger terminal and at the check-in desks, 15,000 objects, from nail clippers to irons, are abandoned every year, in most cases by passengers who are not frequent air travellers.
Monitoring of Checked Baggage Inspection:
Checked baggage is checked in the same way as passengers and hand baggage. Lille Airport was one of the first airports to implement 100% checked baggage inspection. Therefore, checked baggage is inspected by several machines in succession which have complementary technologies and which operate using X-ray. Their aim is to detect explosives.
Some Security statistics:
- The Passenger terminal has 3 Hand Baggage Inspection Posts, each able to handle 150 to 200 passengers per hour.
- 8,667 objects have been confiscated and destroyed (42% fewer confiscations than in 2004, thanks to improved communication and information leaflets given to passengers in advance).
- Checked Baggage Inspection can handle up to 1,200 baggage items per hour
- 325,800 baggage items handled in 2005.