Romain Rouillard / Photo credit: UGO PADOVANI / HANS LUCAS / HANS LUCAS VIA AFP 6:30 a.m., March 8, 2024
On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the inauguration of Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle, Europe 1 offers you seven unusual figures about the largest airport in Europe, the second, behind London-Heathrow, in terms of the number of passengers transported.
Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle is 50 years old.
Inaugurated on March 8, 1974 by the Prime Minister at the time, Pierre Messmer, it is today the largest airport in Europe in terms of surface area.
However, it is ahead of London-Heathrow in terms of the number of travelers who pass through it each year.
Designated, in 2023 and for the second year in a row, “best airport in Europe” by the Skytrax ranking, Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle is also full of surprising, even unusual, facts and anecdotes.
Europe 1 invites you to discover some of them through seven figures.
32.37
This is the area, in km², of Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle airport.
An area 16 times larger than that of the principality of Monaco, but which is, above all, equivalent to a third of that of the city of Paris.
Enough to make it the largest airport in Europe, ahead of those of Madrid, Rome, Amsterdam and Frankfurt.
Despite this remarkable surface area, Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle is only ranked 15th on a global scale.
A ranking dominated, according to the Liligo comparator, by King Fahd airport in Dammam, in Saudi Arabia.
At 776km², it is simply larger than Singapore.
Between 400 and 600
This is the number of... horses that pass through Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle each year, according to Christian Jouan-Chicot, head of the airport's animal station.
A place dedicated to welcoming imported animals, whatever their final destination.
“Every day, we have expeditions, whether cats, dogs, reptiles or horses,” explains Christian Jouan-Chicot in a video for the YouTube channel “Aviation Geekette”.
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500
This is the number of animal and plant species recorded in the aeronautical meadows of Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle.
The airport is located 23km north of Paris, close to rural areas rich in biodiversity.
There are many species of insects, bats, birds of prey, rabbits and even deer.
51
On average, this is the number of aircraft movements - the addition of takeoffs and landings - recorded every hour at Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle in 2023. For a total, over the year, of 448,305 movements .
A figure which remains down compared to that of 2019, the pre-Covid year, which welcomed more than 500,000 aircraft movements.
For comparison, Hartsfield-Jackson Airport in Atlanta, in the United States, one of the largest on the planet, sees more than 950,000 aircraft take off and land each year.
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40
This is the number of films (fiction or advertisements) filmed, on average, each year at Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle.
The terminal thus welcomed the teams of the film
Taken
, with Liam Neeson in 2007, or the duo Jean Reno-Juliette Binoche in the film
Décalage Jet
, released in 2002. In total, more than 150 film productions set up shop at Paris-CDG airport.
Some clips were also filmed there, notably that of the song
Beautiful Day
by the group U2.
18
Like the number of years during which the Iranian Mehran Karimi Nasseri spent time in Terminal 1 of Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle airport.
In 1988, this refugee, who left in search of his mother, settled in the Ile-de-France airport after having been expelled from London, Amsterdam or even Berlin, due to his irregular situation.
Having become a familiar figure to airport staff and travelers, Mehran Karimi Nasseri obtained refugee status in 1999 and her story inspired the film
The Terminal
by Steven Spielberg.
Thanks to the money received, he was able to stay at the hotel for a while, but it was in his favorite airport that “Sir Alfred”, the nickname he gave himself, died in November 2022.
8
The number of days during which Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle airport changed its name.
From Saturday December 3 to Sunday December 11, 2022, it became Paris-Anne-de-Gaulle airport, in tribute to the general's daughter, who suffered from Down syndrome. As the terminal approached, the illuminated road signs announced “Welcome to Paris-Anne de Gaulle airport” and the Air France crew members were instructed to announce the new name on takeoff and landing.
A message raising awareness of disability situations was also communicated to passengers.
© SANDRINE MARTY / HANS LUCAS / HANS LUCAS VIA AFP