With early-morning arrivals, the tarmac – wedged between the ocean and the steep relief of the “intense island” – offers travellers waking up a complete change of scenery. For the comfort of still-groggy passengers, walkways quickly link them to the main building. While some corridors will remain under construction until late 2025, wall paintings of the local flora, with their Latin names, immerse you in the Réunionese atmosphere – a delicate detail compared with the grandeur yet to come.

In the morning light, a vast glass roof plunges the newcomer into the island’s mountains. Clouds drift slowly over the hills down to the palm trees below. The monumental structure frames a temperate cocoon.

Large ceiling fans replace traditional air conditioners, now obsolete in an environment deliberately open to the outdoors to avoid contagion hotspots.

“We know the temperature on planes is often too cool. We therefore made sure that passengers warm up gradually as they reach the terminal – in both temperature and aesthetics,” explains Christian Fouyer, interim Chairman of the Board.

To crown this architectural work designed by the AIA Life Designers group with architect Olivier Brabant, tropical plants cascade above the baggage carousels. Travellers hardly have time to admire the boldness of the design thanks to the performance of the three new conveyors handling luggage at record speed. Compliant with new EU safety regulations, they are powered by nearly 450 motors. Total cost of the project: €15 million.

With a conservative estimate of three million passengers by 2030, the airport’s modernisation plan will unfold gradually until 2028. The final phases include optimising waiting times with automated gates and check-in kiosks, and expanding the departure hall by 1,000 m². Automated bag drop will allow passengers to use their time for more pleasant activities – like spending time with family in new picnic areas, choosing a snack, or buying a local souvenir.

“The idea is to ensure the passenger feels as comfortable as possible on arrival and that the experience is as pleasant as possible. We’ll increase local crafts on offer with several shops. Vehicles and noisy elements will be kept away from the immediate vicinity of the terminal,” adds C. Fouyer.

A Technological Challenge

The bioclimatic wooden structure, naturally ventilated by a large central “canyon,” was designed to maintain an ideal temperature. On this structure rests a technological gem: 800 m² of louvres capture warm air and redirect it outside.

“To achieve these results, we built models at the CSTB in Nantes – France’s major wind tunnel – and worked with the best engineers. A digital simulation was carried out at the Eiffel Laboratory in Paris,” says Marc Delanoë, Director of Sustainable Development.

The structural and technical redevelopment must juggle with land constraints, forcing the airport to rethink spaces progressively without interrupting services or exceeding its plot. “Most planes depart within a fairly short window, between 8:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m., to arrive in mainland France or Bangkok in the morning and allow passengers to connect at Orly, Roissy or in Asia,” explains C. Fouyer.

The passenger experience and sustainability goals are the result of over three years of coordinated expert work. “Réunion is France’s bioclimatic laboratory since it has no harsh winter like the mainland. We have about twenty bioclimatic buildings like the university amphitheatre or the library. The challenge here was the scale of the project,” comments M. Delanoë.

“You have to take usage and environment into account. Here, the building would draw in outside air. It was therefore crucial that it didn’t pass over a hot asphalt car park and bring that heat inside,” adds Christian Fouyer.

Another innovation: the single slab that houses baggage sorting and passenger circulation. “It was built using the innovative ‘hollow-body’ technique, which places plastic boxes inside the floor structure. This saves concrete, lightens the slab’s weight and reduces the size of beams between supporting columns. We saved 30% of concrete compared to a standard solution,” estimates M. Delanoë. Each cubic metre of concrete emits the CO₂ equivalent of 1,000 km in a petrol car, not counting emissions from transport from mainland France.

A Resilient Bioclimatic Building

“With Garance, we recorded wind speeds of 214 km/h – a record for our area. Our infrastructures are built to the standard 240 km/h, so we’re close to the limit, but they performed very well,” notes M. Delanoë.

Even the photovoltaic panels operated by Green Yellow, providing shade for passengers in the car park, held up. The airport experienced only a brief service interruption. Despite violent winds and torrential rain, operations were back to normal the very next day, including the structure’s energy independence systems.

“As part of the national climate-change adaptation plan we submitted to the DGAC at the end of 2024, we anticipated a range of physical, industrial, social and climate risks using IPCC and Météo-France scenarios. We retained the worst-case ones.”

M. Fouyer adds: “Last year we put into service the coastal protection works using the X-Block Plus concrete system to break the swell. This foresight allowed us to break 10-metre waves and avoid the runways being submerged.”