Paris Orly Airport Renovation
Aéroports de Paris has invested a whopping 25 million euros to renovate the international portion of the South Terminal at Orly Airport in Paris. These upgrades will increase the terminal’s handling capacity by 10% to a proposed 12 million passengers. With 25.5 million passengers who passed through in 2006, Paris-Orly airport is the 2nd busiest French airport and the 10th largest in all of Europe. The South Terminal itself processed more than 9.5 million passengers in 2006, including 70% international passengers.
“For summer departures, we offer our international passengers departing from South Terminal a series of new developments to make their airport experience easier: a single space regrouping all the departures checks, a very large boarding concourse of 7,000 sqm, a new business lounge. And for arriving passengers, a large baggage delivery area of 5,600 sqm. In a few months we will unveil the new service and duty-free area which will triple the surface “, states Patrice Hardel, Managing Director Paris-Orly airport.
- A single central area for security checks: The South Terminal now operates 14 security checkpoints immediately after passport control. Due to this upgrade, 1800 to 2000 passengers can pass through security each hour. That is an increase from 1500 passengers.
- The largest boarding concourse at Paris-Orly airport: The concourse consists of a single area of 7,000 sqm (that’s square meters, not square miles for the yankees). By May of next year, Aéroports de Paris intends to fill the area with Duty-Free boutiques covering more than 2,200 sqm (against 880 sqm today). That’s a lot more over priced merchandise to choose from, shoppers.
- A new lounge dedicated to business passengers: The totally renovated Icare lounge offers access to business passengers of more than ten airlines, to 67 seats over 260 sqm, in a muffled atmosphere with VIP reception. A work area offers three wifi-equipped computers while flat screens display flight times.
- A new baggage claim area: The new baggage delivery area is 5,600 sqm, twice the size of the previous area. Equipped with two large 80-meter carousels, this area allows jumbo jets passengers to pick up their luggage faster. Information about baggage delivery times is displayed on screens.