Paris reopens airport terminal before 2024 Olympics

Paris reopened its most iconic airport terminal as France prepares to welcome millions of visitors for the 2024 summer Olympics while the travel industry struggles to recover from the fallout of the pandemic. Aeroports de Paris, which operates Charles de Gaulle airport, spent E250m on works that lasted more than two years and created an additional 36,000 square meters of passenger space, ADP Deputy CEO Edward Arkwright told reporters on site during the reopening ceremony on Saturday. “It will allow us to get more passengers but also to improve travel experiences, quality of service, commercial revenues and operational performance,” he said, without elaborating on figures. Charles de Gaulle welcomed 76.2m passengers in 2019, making it one of the world’s busiest hubs. The oldest terminal, number 1, was opened in 1974 and is recognizable for its futuristic design and concrete circular structure. The iconic central building, which allows passengers to move from one level to the other thanks to suspended escalators in Plexiglas tubes, is surrounded by other satellite buildings. The newly created passenger space is reminiscent of Parisian bistros or cabarets, with sofas and chairs in plush red and greens, tables decorated with chess boards, tall brass lights resembling fireworks and smaller round lamps inspired by the terminal’s circular shape. Airport architects who worked on the revamp cited Ernest Hemingway’s book “A Moveble Feast,” set in the French capital of the 1920s, as their main source of inspiration. “People tend to view time spent in airports as wasted time but we are in Paris here,” Caroline Blanchet, ADP’s marketing chief, told reporters. Even transit passengers can get a feel for the city, she added.<br/>