Traffic resumes at Orly airport after three months of closure

Air traffic is also thinning out. At Orly airport, after nearly three months of forced shutdown, a first plane took off at 6:25 a.m. on Friday, June 26.

The aircraft of the company Transavia was watered by the water cannons of the fire engines of the Parisian airport during a ceremony called "water salute" before taking off, bound for Porto. 

Just over 70 aircraft movements are planned for the day, compared to an average of 600 in normal times, operated by eight companies (Air Caraïbes, Air Corsica, Air France, Amelia, Corsair, French Bee, Transavia and Wizzair). These flights will notably serve Corsica, a few countries in the Schengen zone and the French overseas departments.

About 8,000 passengers are expected, or less than 10% of the usual traffic of 90,000 passengers on average per day at this airport.

The tradition is that major events at an @ParisAeroport airport are marked with a “water salute”. It was the case at 6am this morning for the first flight to #Orly, after 13 weeks of closure, of @transaviaFR. pic.twitter.com/La3GqU0mpS

Health measures

More than 7,000 posters and stickers to mark physical distance were placed at Orly, 150 gel dispensers and 137 plexiglass installed at all reception desks, check-in and boarding banks.

A thermal camera takes the temperature of travelers on arrival to detect possible cases of contamination by the coronavirus. A cabin baggage decontamination system using ultraviolet rays at the security controls is being tested.

Almost all of the Orly 3 stores will open on Friday, with a few exceptions. Mobile collection points will be deployed in "duty free" stores, the fabric baskets have been replaced by metal baskets so that they can be disinfected regularly, as are the perfume testers.

Partial reopening

The number of daily air movements at Orly is expected to climb to 173 at the beginning of July, but their progression remains uncertain, linked to unknowns of the opening or not of borders, notably in the Maghreb, and of the evolution of the health situation.

The reopening of the airport will therefore be partial. All flights will initially be grouped together at Orly 3, the brand-new terminal opened just over a year ago. Then gradually reopen Orly 4, 1 and 2.

Orly was closed to commercial flights on the evening of March 31 following the sudden drop in air traffic due to the pandemic. All commercial flights from the capital were grouped at Paris-Charles de Gaulle (CDG), north of Paris, to rationalize operating costs.

In May, traffic collapsed 97.8% at CDG, with only 200,000 passengers accommodated.

The traffic restart will be extremely slow, ADP has already warned. Like the forecasts of the International Air Transport Association (Iata), which anticipates worldwide recovery first on domestic flights, then on continental flights and finally on intercontinental flights, with traffic that does not will not return before 2023 to 2019 level

With AFP

The France 24 week summary invites you to come back to the news that marked the week

Take international news everywhere with you! Download the France 24 app