Charles de Gaulle Airport


Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, also known as Roissy Airport, is the primary international airport serving Paris, the capital of France. The airport opened in 1974 and is located in Roissy-en-France, northeast of the city centre of Paris. It is named after World War II leader and French President Charles de Gaulle, whose initials form its IATA airport code.
Charles de Gaulle Airport serves as the principal hub for Air France and a destination for other legacy carriers, as well as an operating base for easyJet and Norse Atlantic Airways. It is operated by Groupe ADP under the brand Paris Aéroport.
In 2024, the airport handled 70,290,260 passengers and 466,543 aircraft movements, making it the world's fourteenth busiest airport and Europe's third busiest airport in terms of passenger numbers. Charles de Gaulle is the busiest airport within the European Union. In terms of cargo traffic, the airport is the second busiest in Europe, after Frankfurt, handling 1,914,681 tonnes of cargo in 2024. As of 2025, it was the airport served by the second highest number of airlines, after Suvarnabhumi Airport, with 105 airlines operating from it.
Régis Lacote has been the director of the airport since 14 November 2022.

Location

Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport covers of land. The airport area, including terminals and runways, spans over three départements and six communes:
The choice of constructing an international aviation hub outside of central Paris was made due to a limited prospect of potential relocations or expropriations and the possibility of further expanding the airport in the future.
Management of the airport lies solely on the authority of Groupe ADP, which also manages Orly, Le Bourget, several smaller airfields in the suburbs of Paris, and other airports directly or indirectly worldwide.

History

Development

The planning and construction phase of what was known then as Aéroport de Paris Nord began in 1966. On 8 March 1974 the airport, renamed Charles de Gaulle Airport, opened. Terminal 1 was built in an avant-garde design of a ten-floors-high circular building surrounded by seven satellite buildings, each with six gates allowing sunlight to enter through apertures. The main architect was Paul Andreu, who was also in charge of the extensions during the following decades.
Terminal 2 opened in 1981 with the official inauguration in presence of the then President, François Mitterrand, in March 1982. Unlike Terminal 1, Terminal 2 was designed with a traditional linear layout, but has evolved over time into a series of distinct terminals, designated as 2A through to 2G.
Following the introduction of the brand Paris Aéroport to all its Parisian airports, Groupe ADP also announced major changes for the Charles de Gaulle Airport: Terminals of the Satellite 1 were to be merged, as well as terminals 2B and 2D. A new luggage automated sorting system and conveyor under Terminal 2E Hall L was installed to speed luggage delivery time. The CDG Express, the direct express rail link from Paris to Charles de Gaulle Airport, is scheduled to open in early 2027.
On 15 December 2025, Groupe ADP announced that each terminal will be renamed in March 2027.

Corporate identity

The Frutiger typeface was commissioned for use in the airport and implemented on signs throughout the building in 1975. Initially called Roissy, it was renamed after its designer Adrian Frutiger.
Until 2005, every PA announcement made at Terminal 1 was preceded by a distinctive chime, nicknamed "Indicatif Roissy" and composed by Bernard Parmegiani in 1971. The chime can be heard in the Roman Polanski film Frantic. The chime was officially replaced by the "Indicatif ADP" chime.
On 14 April 2016, the Groupe ADP rolled out the Connect 2020 corporate strategy and the commercial brand Paris Aéroport was applied to all Parisian airports, including Le Bourget airport.

Terminals

Charles de Gaulle Airport has three terminals: Terminal 1 is the oldest and situated opposite to Terminal 3; Terminal 2 is located at another side with 7 sub-terminal buildings. Terminal 2 was originally built exclusively for Air France; since then it has been expanded significantly and now houses other airlines. Terminals 2A to 2F are interconnected by elevated walkways and situated next to each other. Terminal 2G is a satellite building connected by shuttle bus.
Terminal 3 hosts charter and low-cost airlines. The CDGVAL light-rail shuttle connects Terminal 2 to Terminals 1 and 3 and their parking lots.

Terminal 1

The first terminal, designed by Paul Andreu, was built in the image of an octopus. It consists of a circular terminal building which houses key functions such as check-in counters and baggage claim conveyors. Seven satellites with boarding gates are connected to the central building by underground walkways.
The central building, with a large skylight in its centre, dedicates each floor to a single function. The first floor is reserved for technical operations and not accessible to the public. The second floor contains shops and restaurants, the CDGVAL inter-terminal shuttle train platforms and check-in counters from a recent renovation. The majority of check-in counters, however, are located on the third floor, which also has access to taxi stands, bus stops and special pick-up vehicles. Departing passengers with valid boarding passes can reach the fourth floor, which houses duty-free stores and border control posts, for the boarding gates. The fifth floor contains baggage claim conveyors for arriving passengers. All four upper floors have assigned areas for parking and airline offices.
Passages between the third, fourth and fifth floors are provided by a tangle of escalators arranged through the centre of the building. These escalators are suspended over the central court. Each escalator is covered with a transparent tube to shelter from all weather conditions. These escalators were often used in film shootings. The Alan Parsons Project album I Robot features these escalators on its cover.
Terminal 1 closed in March 2020 in response to the drop in traffic during the COVID-19 pandemic. ADP used this time for a €250 million refurbishment. Completed in 2023, the refurbishment included the creation of a new junction building linking satellites 1, 2 and 3, and modernisation of the central body of the terminal. Various design details in the refurbished terminal pay homage to the circular shape of the original Andreu design. The upgraded Terminal 2 also features a new departure lounge designed by French designers Maxime Liautard and Hugo Toro, which reflects the ambiance of a Parisian bistro.
The terminal is primarily used by Star Alliance airlines with a few exceptions. Other carriers include Oneworld carriers Cathay Pacific, Oman Air, Qatar Airways and SriLankan Airlines, SkyTeam carrier Saudia and non-aligned carriers including Aer Lingus, Eurowings, Icelandair, and Kuwait Airways.

Terminal 2

Terminal 2 is spread across seven sub-terminals: 2A to 2G. Terminals 2A to 2F are connected by inter-terminal walkways, but Terminal 2G is a satellite building away. Terminal 2G can only be accessed by shuttle bus from Terminals 1, 2A to 2F and 3. The CDGVAL inter-terminal shuttle train, Paris RER Regional-Express and high-speed TGV rail station, Aéroport Charles de Gaulle 2 TGV, is located within the Terminal 2 complex and between 2C and 2E or 2D and 2F.
Terminal 2F was used for the filming of the music video for the U2 song "Beautiful Day". The band also had their picture taken inside Terminal 2F for the album artwork of their 2000 album All That You Can't Leave Behind.
Terminals 2A and 2C are used by Star Alliance carriers Air Canada, Air India and Ethiopian Airlines, Oneworld carriers British Airways, Qantas and Royal Jordanian, and non-alliance carriers Air Senegal, Emirates, Gulf Air, and LATAM Chile.
Terminals 2B and 2D are used by Oneworld carriers American Airlines, Finnair and Royal Air Maroc, Star Alliance carriers Aegean Airlines, Croatia Airlines, and LOT Polish Airlines, SkyTeam carriers ITA Airways and Scandinavian Airlines and non-alliance airlines including Air Austral, Air Tahiti Nui, easyJet and JetBlue.
Terminals 2E and 2F are dedicated use for Air France and its SkyTeam partners except Saudia which uses Terminal 1. Several other carriers also use Terminal 2E, these are Oneworld carrier Japan Airlines and Malaysia Airlines and non-aligned carriers Air Mauritius, China Southern Airlines, Etihad Airways, and WestJet.

Collapse of Terminal 2E

On 23 May 2004, shortly after the inauguration of terminal 2E, a portion of it collapsed near Gate E50, killing four people. Two of the dead were reported to be Chinese citizens, one Czech and the other Lebanese. Three other people were injured in the collapse. Terminal 2E had been inaugurated in 2003 after some delays in construction and was designed by Paul Andreu. Administrative and judicial enquiries were started.
Before this accident, ADP had been planning for an initial public 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 seriously hurt the airport's business plan.
In February 2005, the results from the administrative inquiry were published. The experts pointed out that there was no single fault, but rather a number of causes for the collapse, in a design that had little margin for safety. The inquiry found the concrete vaulted roof was not resilient enough and had been pierced by metallic pillars and some openings weakened the structure. Sources close to the inquiry also disclosed that the whole building chain had worked as close to the limits as possible, so as to reduce costs. Paul Andreu denounced the building companies for having not correctly prepared the reinforced concrete.
On 17 March 2005, ADP decided to tear down and rebuild the whole part of Terminal 2E of which a section had collapsed, at a cost of approximately €100 million. The reconstruction replaced the innovative concrete tube style of the jetty with a more traditional steel and glass structure. During reconstruction, two temporary departure lounges were constructed in the vicinity of the terminal that replicated the capacity of 2E before the collapse. The terminal reopened completely on 30 March 2008.