Winner of the 2025 Prix Versailles as one of the ‘most beautiful airports in the world’, this international recognition highlights a bold vision of contemporary architecture, where operational excellence meets ecological awareness and a tribute to its history.
The Prix Versailles honours achievements that combine operational, ecological and aesthetic excellence, while embodying shared values, culture and a respectful tribute to the past. It promotes a forward-thinking vision of sustainable development, where culture transcends and serves the very notion of the environment.
A new luminous heart designed by Foster + Partners
The new Terminal 1 at Marseille Provence Airport creates a dialogue between heritage and innovation. The result of a bold transformation, the new Terminal 1, designed by the internationally renowned firm Foster + Partners, has created a new luminous heart of 22,000 sq. m, without additional land development.
Discover a 22-metre-high glass hall, designed with 70% recycled steel. Skylights provide natural ventilation, creating a serene and airy atmosphere. This building is in perfect continuity with the original terminals designed by Fernand Pouillon (1960s) and Richard Rogers (1990s), with a comprehensive renovation of 28,000 sq. m of existing space.
The passenger experience is unique: security checks take place under a French wooden pergola, while the shops and restaurants, also designed with this warm material, evoke the iconic yacht clubs of Marseille's Old Port. The glass façades offer maximum transparency, revealing the Provençal hinterland on one side and the maritime lagoon on the other. It is a successful marriage of warm hospitality and distinctive architectural style.
The passenger experience reinvented: telling figures
This distinction is no accident. It reflects an ongoing and deep commitment to improving customer experience, one of the five major strategic challenges that the airport has set for 2030. The results are convincing: since the opening of terminal 1, the overall passenger satisfaction rating has risen from 3.40 (second quarter of 2024) to 3.89 (first quarter of 2025), even reaching a historic high of 3.99 in May 2025.
Several key areas have seen significant improvements:
Ease of finding your way around the airport: +0.62 points (from 3.18 to 3.81, with a record high of 4.06 in May).
Cleanliness of the terminal: +0.58 points (from 3.30 to 3.88, with a record high of 4.04 in May).
Food and beverage outlets: +0.58 points (from 2.93 to 3.51).
These figures give us wings and strengthen our determination to continue our efforts. The next steps are already being planned, with the development of the check-in hall to fully embody the ‘Provençal courtyard’ originally imagined by Foster + Partners, and the creation of a vast 600 m² family area on the boarding side, to further enrich the passenger experience.
This recognition at the Prix Versailles 2025 is not an end in itself, but a powerful incentive. It drives us to continue innovating and to place the traveller at the heart of our concerns every day, thus consolidating Marseille Provence Airport's position as an iconic gateway to France.