Charles de Gaulle Airport

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Charles de Gaulle International Airport (French: L'aéroport de Roissy-Charles de Gaulle), also known as Roissy Airport, serving Paris, is one of Europe's principal aviation centers. It is also France's main international airport. It is named after Charles de Gaulle (1890-1970), a French general and statesman.

The airport has the IATA Airport Code CDG. It has the ICAO Airport Code LFPG. The airport is near Roissy, to the north-east of Paris.

CDG is connected to the RER commuter rail network, and the high-speed rail TGV network providing service into downtown Paris three or four times per hour. SNCF French Rail operates rail service to several French stations from CDG, including Angers Rail Station in Angers, TGV Rail Station in Avignon, Gare de Bordeaux in Bordeaux, Le Mans Rail Station in Le Mans, Lille Rail Station in Lille, Lyon Rail Station in Lyon, Marseille Rail Station in Marseille, France, Montpellier Rail Station in Montpellier, Nantes Rail Station in Nantes, Nimes Rail Station in Nimes, France, Poiters Rail Station in Poiters, Rennes Rail Station in Rennes, Tours Rail Station in Tours, and Valence Rail Station in Valence.

Also codeshared is Thalys International's service to Brussels's Midi Station.

The other important airport in the Paris area is Orly Airport.

History

After seven years of planning and construction, CDG began service on March 8, 1974. Terminal one was built to an avant-garde design consisting of a ten-floor high circular building surrounded by seven satellite buildings each with four gates. The main architect was Paul Andreu, who was also in charge of the extensions during the following decades.

In 1975, a DC-10 of Turkish Airlines crashed immediately after take off from Charles de Gaulle, killing all its passengers.

On August 26, 1988, one Merhan Karimi Nasseri found himself held at Charles de Gaulle airport by immigration. He claimed he was a refugee, but had had his refugee papers stolen. After years of burocratic wrangling, it was concluded that Nasseri had entered the airport legally and could not be expelled from its walls; but since he had no papers, there was no country to deport him to either, leaving him in residential limbo. Nasseri has continued to live within the confines of the airport to this day, even though French authorities have since made it possible for him to leave if he so chooses.

On 19 September, 1989, UTA Flight 772 exploded over the Sahara Desert while on the second leg of the Brazzaville-Ndjamena-Paris route, killing all on board

On 24 December, 1994, Air France Flight 8969 was hijacked shortly after it took off from Algiers to Paris. It was flown to Marseille, where hijackers wanted it to be refuelled in order to run it into the Eiffel Tower. French commandos intervened and shot all four hijackers dead.

On 17 July, 1996, TWA Flight 800, which was bound for Charles de Gaulle International Airport from John F. Kennedy International Airport in Jamaica, Queens, New York, New York, exploded near Long Island.

On July 25 2000, an Air France Flight 4590, a Concorde bound from Charles de Gaulle Airport for John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City crashed in nearby Gonesse after coming in contact with material that had been left by another plane on the runway. The Concorde was on a German charter flight for a tour company. Everyone on board died, as did four people on the ground. This was the only time a Concorde had crashed.

On 22 December, 2001, an Al-Qaida terrorist named Richard Reid tried to ignite explosives hidden in his shoes onboard American Airlines Flight 63, which was headed from Charles de Gaulle to Miami International Airport in Miami, Florida. He was subdued after a passenger smelled sulfur.

On 23 May, 2004, a portion of Terminal 2E's ceiling collapsed early in the day, near Gate E50, killing four people [1]. Terminal 2E had been inaugurated in 2003 after some delays in construction.

Before this accident, the Aeroports de Paris has been planning for a public stock offering in 2005 with the new terminal as a major attraction for investors. The partial collapse and indefinite closing of the terminal just before the beginning of summer could seriously hurt the airport's business plan.

Terminals

Charles de Gaulle International Airport has three terminals. Terminal 2 was built for Air France, but now hosts other airlines as well. The third terminal (T3, formerly T9) hosts charter airlines.

Terminal 2, the newest, has its own RER and TGV station underneath. Passengers may reach trains going to Paris or to other French and foreign cities by going through passages and moving walkways.

The RER station for Terminal 1 must, in fact, be reached using a free shuttle bus.

Airlines

Terminal 3 (T9)

See also: Transportation in France, List of French Airports

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