The €580 million project was approved in February 2008, with construction expected to start in 2014 and an opening date in 2017.
[1] The airport was met with strong opposition, notably led by The Greens, Ségolène Royal and Arnaud Montebourg, even though the French Socialist Party supported it.
Also various groups have set up numerous protest camps and squats around the area that will be built upon known as the "ZAD" (acronym of "Zone to Defend").
The population of Loire-Atlantique approved the transfer of Nantes Atlantique Airport in the town of Notre-Dame-des-Landes.
Official results (communicated by the prefecture of Loire-Atlantique):[5] On 17 January 2018, prime minister Édouard Philippe announced that the airport project was definitively cancelled.