Orly Airport was pampered for its reopening on Friday June 26, 2020. - STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN / AFP

  • Orly airport will reopen Friday after almost three months of forced closure due to the epidemic.
  • 74 flights are scheduled on the first day against 650 usually for an airport which should not return to full activity before 2022 or 2023.
  • The return of the planes is a relief for the economic world, even if the residents would have liked to enjoy the silence longer.

The hour of the surprise dish of the day has not yet struck at Alain, the owner of the best coffee shop in the area, that it is already a goat heat in Villeneuve-le-Roi, a small town without frills on the edge of Orly (Try). We send each other a mint diabolo while looking at the azure sky emptied of its local fauna. Not the tail of an airplane on the horizon for another two days.

Alain watches the silence with us, more than he listens to it. Gossip comes with the craft. 38 rods to watch out for the zincs flying overhead in this major air corridor of the second Ile-de-France airport, which will restart the machine on Friday after three months of shutdown. Without ever seeing a crash, he says, catching us off guard. Once it did not go far, that said. A Romanian plane that had drunk too much. "I remember, the women were crying on the street."

The planes will fly over the city again from Friday. - STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN / AFP

“The closure has changed our lives”

In short. “Usually they pass rue de la République, just behind. This is how we learn the weather. If they take off on our side, it is that we are going to see a beautiful day. Dilemma: the landing is less noisy, but there will be a time of puppies until the evening. "Having said that, planes are like everything, after a while you don't even hear them anymore." Must see. Monique, a neighbor, hears them a little too much. One heavy lift every six minutes above the family garden. 70 decibels in the eardrums for the unlucky ones, a noise fifteen times higher than the regulatory limit according to Bruiparif, three years of life in good health less.

“The closure changed our lives, we were finally able to take advantage of the outdoors. I'm in no rush to be on Friday. ” No panic either. Retirement is coming, with a move to the Luberon on the program. Is it so easy to sell around here? "I don't care, you know, people know there are planes." Understand that the price is in line.

This historic Villenevoise still supports by far the resistance embodied by the DRAPO, 40 municipalities and 30 associations gathered to fight against the pollution generated by Orly airport, landlocked in an urban fabric of 2 million inhabitants. The asso is trying to take advantage of a still partial restart - barely 70 movements on Friday against 650 on major days and a return to normal "not before 2022-2023" according to the CEO of Aéroports de Paris, Augustin de Romanet - for redraw the balance of power.

#noise #pollution from # ORLY✈

Resumption of traffic✈ in the city:
Ile-de-France residents around ORLY demand new protective measures

▶ ️ curfew extended by 1 hour for 7:30

hours of sleep ▶ ️ 200,000 movements ✈ max / year

▶ ️ 8.5 % of heavy

lifters maximum / year ▶ ️ ✈ very noisy prohibited pic.twitter.com/HL7fjq2T9e

- DRAPO (@DRAPOORLY) June 8, 2020

His requirements? One hour more curfew (11:30 p.m. - 6 a.m. for now), and a strict cap on 200,000 annual movements, a figure regularly exploded by ADP. You might as well piss in a violin given the economic emergency pointed out by all the elected officials in the region.

Only 200 employees on site during the crisis

"The reopening is still very cautious to put afloat all the partner companies that work for this big liner that is Orly Airport, sighs Christian Janodet, the mayor of Orly city. The closure caused a real tidal wave in the local economy. ” No one at work, starting with the platform itself. 200 employees mobilized out of the 25,000 who ran the store before the Covid, to accomplish the essential missions. Regular inspection of runways in order to safely organize medical repatriations, when Orly was transformed into a small medical hub at the height of the crisis. Mowing on the aisles, to discourage seagulls and gulls. They shouldn't get used to sunbathing on the tarmac.

Final checks before the reopening of Paris- # Orly: the aeronautical areas are inspected by airport staff before the departure of the first flight, at 6 am tomorrow morning. pic.twitter.com/c8rJEKtnfX

- Paris Aéroport (@ParisAeroport) June 25, 2020

And from time to time, an Orlyval shuttle that runs empty to maintain the automated systems. Not even a homeless man on board. The forty or so homeless people who live year-round in Orly terminals have been evacuated to a gymnasium in Nogent-sur-Marne. Most have been offered a housing solution and will not return, at least not immediately. Sometimes regretfully. "When you live at the airport, and as long as you do not hinder the smooth running of the place, there is a form of security", judge Patrice, a sixty-something man who landed by chance in Orly after several years of wandering abroad. “It's easier to strike up a dialogue than in the street and then there are the planes to watch. I like this plane, I have traveled a lot, you know. ”

In recent weeks, there was little to watch. The planes have put on a protective cover like a beautiful car that never leaves the garage. Duty free have lowered the curtain and the surrounding hotels, from the Ibis to the Hilton, do not even display the price of the room on the light panel at the entrance. Anyway, there is not a cat.

Fear of the disappearance of domestic lines

Didier Desnus has nightmares about this ghost airport. The president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) calculated the addition, 15,000 jobs threatened in the long term out of the 157,000 generated by the airport. According to him, "a million fewer passengers means 5,000 fewer direct or indirect jobs for the inhabitants of the region", while ADP announced "an adjustment of the same nature" as those of the airlines. Or a 20% cut in staff to be expected. Didier Desnus was particularly alarmed by Air France's decision to abandon domestic routes to Nantes, Bordeaux or Lyon, in exchange for the rescue plan proposed by the government.

“It's the end of daytime business trips. Impossible to go back and forth to Saclay, which gathers 15% of national research on its plateau, by TGV. It is these business trips that contribute to the region's economy. We do not want Orly to become only a departure airport for Ile-de-France residents. ”

Augustin de Romanet: "Aéroports de Paris has lost 98% of its turnover" ... but is ready to take off again !!! Replay of this morning's exchange @SoMabrouk @MattBelliard @ Europe1 @GroupeADP @AvgeeksFR https://t.co/PgwVV6FyZF

- Augustin de Romanet (@Romanet) June 5, 2020

It is however the initial promise of Augustin de Romanet in the JDD. “We will find the flagship destinations of the Mediterranean such as Portugal, Greece, Malaga or Ibiza. The holiday airport is reopening ”. Too happy to see the barge again, Orly will be content with travelers in flip-flops to start again, as long as there is entertainment from the terrace of terminal 4, formerly celebrated by Gilbert Bécaud in song: "I'm going on Sunday At Orly, at the airport, we see planes flying to all countries… ”.

The meeting has lost its aura, but the clever ones join the flight crew from time to time who comes to toast one between two rotations. "I connect to the live ATC application, which gives access to Orly's approach and departure frequencies, and I ask myself half an hour to follow the planes," whispers Maxime, passionate about aeronautics, as we reveal a golden plan to a good friend. It’s clearly an under side thing, it’s just missing a bistro. There is a small museum next door, the next time I go there, I wouldn't mind taking a walk on the terrace to celebrate the reopening. ”

A “Water Salute” for the first flight on Friday

The museum in question? A little gem even more confidential than the Orly Sud terrace. You can visit the fourth Concorde never left the factory, more than three hundred flights between 73 and 76, and some famous VIP passengers. "In your place sat Mireille Darc and Alain Delon, the King of Saudi Arabia and the Shah of Iran", breathes Alexandre Pozder, who gives us a free visit. The first couple got on better than the other, no doubt. From the vintage cockpit, the absolute kiff. We listen to the airport frequency with a perfect view of runway 3, which will no longer be deserted for long.

A very big thank you to our last Queen of Heaven for giving us so many good moments in the clouds 👑☁️ A new page turns in our history with the departure of # B747 and the upcoming arrival of a more ecological and economical fleet . # ByeBye747 #Avgeek pic.twitter.com/HsVjhQ402n

- Corsair (@CorsairFr) June 15, 2020

Last week, the small band of fanatics gathered to attend the farewell to the arms of the last Jumbo 747 of the company Corsair. Too expensive, too greedy in energy, not green enough, the "Queen of the sky" will soon join another giant in the cemetery of elephants. While Orly reopens, Air France will take the A380 out of a Roissy closet for a final two-hour run, as a gift to the staff who fought to manufacture the aircraft.

"There were ten of us wanting to be there," resumes Alexandre Pozder. The firefighters gave him a salvo of honor with a jet of water, and then, as is the tradition for the last take-off, the plane pretended to descend before leaving again, saluting with a flutter of wings ”. Friday morning, a little before 6am, the airport fire brigade will greet the departure of the first plane, a Transavia to Porto, in the same "water salute" to water the renaissance of Orly. “For amateurs like us, it will be a touching moment. It is a breath of fresh air to see the planes fly again ”.

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  • Coronavirus
  • Society
  • Charles de Gaulle Airport Roissy
  • ADP: Paris Airports
  • Aviation
  • Economy
  • Orly