Saint-Denis Roland Garros Airport  (RUN/FMEE) is located 7km east of the capital Saint-Denis at the northern shore and was named after the French aviator Roland Garros as he was given birth on Réunion.
The airport serves as hub for Air Austral – the local carrier – as it is the biggest airport on the island of Réunion. Apart from plenty connections to France, it also offers flights to the nearby regions: Mauritius, Madagascar, Seychelles, South Africa and some more. Thereby the airport handles roughly 2.5 million passengers a year and the numbers are increasing.

This guide is written by Severin Hackenberger in cooperation with Maël Robin and Markus Mainka. Last Update: March 2020

Rating
Movements
Airline Variety
Photo Locations
Weather
Airport Information
Runways
12/30	3.200m / 10.499ft – Asphalt
14/32	2.670m / 8.760ft – Asphalt
Terminals	There is only one terminal handling all flights: short- and longhaul.
Spotting Information
Ladder	No ladder needed here at all.
Car/Public Transport	A car is definitely needed as distances are big and it’s hot.
Restrooms	Can be found in the Terminal building and in most of the restaurants around the airport; close to spot #1 and #2 is a little restaurant offering such accomodation for sure.
Drinks/Food	Can be found in the Terminal building and in most of the restaurants around the airport; close to spot #4 is a big Carrefour supermarket providing lots of food, drinks and so on easily.
Hotels	Some hotels around, but plenty on the island here.
Season	Oct-Mar are cloudier, hotter and the light is bad. Therefore Apr-Sep is the better season for RUN as it offers smoother light, it is sunnier, less rainy/cloudy, and cooler.
Runway Usage
General Info	Runway 12 and 14 are the most used runways as Reunion mostly expereiences eastern winds (60-70%). Smaller aircraft may take the shorter runway 14/32, but all middle and big airplanes will use 12/30.

	Spot #1 – Coastline rocks – 12/30 Runway movements
WHERE	The spot is located along the coastline north of the airfield and can be reached easily. Park your car around/at the little harbour, which can be found just at the runway’s head and is called: Port de Sainte-Marie. Then walk up to the street/path, which is a bit elevated and runs along the runway. Walk as far as you want in order to reach your favourite position as you can basicaly stand everywhere on the rocks just next to the street.
WHAT	Runway 12/30 movements.
TIME	Not really useable from November till January as the sun only stays in the south or just above the runway. Apart from these months from sunrise till sunset/afternoon.
MISC.	Foods and drinks are available at the marked nearby restaurant: L’Entre de Mer. No ladder needed thanks to the rocks. Heat haze is no problem normally as you are close and the wind is harsh all the time. But therefore it may be dangerous with the jet’s blast and the wind. Be careful! In addition, take enough water as there is nothing along the way!
FOCAL LENGTH	24-300mm B738 sideshot = 40mm / P8 close-up = 210mm

RUN-Spot1

RUN-Spot1

RUN-Spot1

	Spot #2 – Aero Club Roland-Garros – Runway 12/30 movements
WHERE	This spot can be next to the buildings of the local Aero Club Roland-Garros. It is easy to reach as before you reach spot #1, you have to exit the big roundabout at the same exit as for spot #1, but then turn off left directly at the y-junction again onto a little bumby road. Then follow this street for some meters and it will lead you to a parking area, where you have free sight onto the runway from some positions as there are objects to shot over the fence from. You can leave your car nearby on the grass meadow or park it on the mentioned parking area and shoot from the car’s top. You’ll find plenty parking possibilities around here anyway. +++ You are not allowed to drive on the street which runs next to the airport fence by car – only allowed for fishmen and airport security. So park your  car at the harbour and continue by bike or foot +++
WHAT	All 12/30 runway movements.
TIME	In European summer not useable (Apr-Sep); rest of the year (Oct-Mar) morelikely in the early morning/late evening.
MISC.	You may not see the runway’s eastern end properly, so you have to be cautious as some planes may just appear surprisingly. Some restaurants nearby in the village where one can get food and see some restrooms.
FOCAL LENGTH	30-250mm B787 almost side shot = 65mm / A340 front shot = 150mm

RUN-Spot2

RUN-Spot2

…at the parking from where you can spot, which looks like this:

	Spot #3 – Staircase – Apron + Taxiway + Runway parts
WHERE	This spot can be found just next to the terminal on the eastern site nearby a tower. It is a staircase which can be used in order to have an elevated position and thereby view onto the apron. However, the location may be tricky to find as it is just directly next to the eastern end of the glassy terminal building and located under a roof making it hard to see from ditance. In order to get there, leave the terminal on departure level and walk towards tower on a kind of little “gateway”, which is still somehow connected to the tower. Then you are suppossed to see a little staircase still below the concrete roof on your left: some stairs up and some down, from where you will be able to take pictures. Anyway, the terminal and area is not that big here, so it should be find easily…
WHAT	Parts of the apron (mainly the eastern part) and in addition the nearby taxiway/runway parts.
TIME	In European summer not useable (Apr-Sep); rest of the year (Oct-Mar) morelikely in the early morning/late evening.
MISC.	The clutter/poles in front can be disturbing while spotting. Heat haze is also an issue, therefore all needed facilities nearby in the terminal. Keep a low profile and don’t stay here for too long as we are not sure how the airport/security is okay with us spotters there. Rather stay inside the terminal till an aircraft comes and only go up the stairs then.
FOCAL LENGTH	70-300mm A350 on parking position = 70mm / B738 on runway = 280mm

RUN-Spot3

RUN-Spot3

	Spot #4 –  Forest – 14 Arrivals + 30/32 departures
WHERE	This spot is quite hard to find and reach as it is located right in a forest. Although it is close to a paintball field, it is no exact location more or less any elevated location in this area giving your free view. Get rid of your car in the nearby area (best maybe at the mentioned paintball area) and then walk into the forest. We took our examples back then from some little hills on a construction site although it was used nobody had a problem with us. We don’t know whether this opportunity is still available or not, but we can’t get any new information from there, that’s why we attached following info: +++ We don’t know exactly whether this spot is still as useable as when we discovered it in 2018. Please don’t hesitate to contact us when having any news regarding this spot…+++
WHAT	From here you have a nice view onto runway 14 arrivals as well as departures from runway 30 and 32.
TIME	In European summer not useable (Apr-Sep); rest of the year (Oct-Mar) morelikely in the early morning/late evening.
MISC.	Heat haze is an issue here on hot days. Nothing apart from forest around here. Although our hobby was tolerated on the construction site last time, please always keep a low profile here as we don’t want to distrub them.
FOCAL LENGTH	100-400mm A340 arrival = 145mm / B738 arrival = 240mm / ATR72 departure = 310mm

RUN-Spot4

RUN-Spot4

RUN-Spot4

RUN-Spot4

RUN-Spot4

As mentioned, we took our example shoots from a construction site so the spot looked like this back then:

	Spot #5 – Runway head – 12/14 Arrivals + 30/32 departures
WHERE	This spot is really hard to reach as you have to drive by bicycle almost all way along the fence or go all way along it on a more or less bumpy and bad road. But to reach this spot, take the way to spot #1 and park your car at the harbor as mentioned for spot #1 as well. Then haed to the rocky street next to the runway and start going or driving by bicycle there for more than 3kms. On the way the roads surface changes and the road becomes a bit curvy and the quality declines. Continue to follow this road for quite a while till you end up in a turning pad for cars right at the western end of runway 14/32. +++ You are not allowed to drive on the street which runs next to the airport fence by car – only allowed for fishmen and airport security. So park your  car at the harbour and continue by bike or foot +++
WHAT	Arrivals onto runway 12 and 14 as well as departures from runway 30/32.
TIME	Not really useable from November till January as the sun only stays in the south or just above the runway. Apart from these months from sunrise till sunset/afternoon.
MISC.	Heat haze may be an issue here on hot days, especially for runway 12 arrivals. Nothing around here! Be careful when driving in here to have enough water and gas with you. In order to be elevated you can use your car’s top or the surrounding objects so you can shoot over the fence. Otherwise a ladder is needed to avoid it from being in the lower part of your shot.
FOCAL LENGTH	XXX, but should be 70-300

A sample picture taken from here looks like THIS and if you want to see how the area here looks like, you can watch THIS video (if you have Instagram) to get an impression about the situation and surroundings.