Plans to create a new airport at Nantes in France have moved forward with the publication of a decree authorising construction of the facility.

Notre-Dame-des-Landes Airport, which will be situated between Rennes and Nantes, will have two runways and is slated as the replacement for Nantes-Atlantique Airport.

The French Ministry for Ecology and Sustainable Development says the project has been backed by France's Conseil d'Etat and a decree authorising the construction of the facility has been published in France's official journal.

It says: "The realisation of this new airport, which will substitute the existing Nantes-Atlantique Airport, will remove low-level overflights above the city of Nantes which are a source of noise pollution."