FRANCE. Another major signal of European aviation recovery has arrived at Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport this month. Groupe ADP has reopened its modernised Terminal 1 to passengers for the first time since its closure on 30 March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 crisis.
Importantly, the facility incorporates the new Groupe ADP retail and hospitality brand Extime, launched earlier this year. The Extime concept was presented by Groupe ADP Chief Customer Officer Mathieu Daubert at The Trinity Forum last month; click here for our report and a video (also below) about the concept now in place at T1.
All of the terminals of the major Paris airports are now operational. The airport operator’s Chairman & CEO Augustin de Romanet said the reopening of T1 “symbolically marks the end of the COVID-19 pandemic for the Paris airports”.
After several months of modernisation work, the reopening of T1 is accompanied by the unveiling of a brand new passenger pathway, and “fully embodying the requirements of service, quality and hospitality” in the words of Groupe ADP.
“We decided to give new life to this almost 50-year-old infrastructure by modernising the existing building, fully in line with the work of Paul Andreu [the now deceased renowned French architect who designed Paris CGD Airport -Ed] ,” said de Romanet. “Terminal 1, still a pioneer, embodies the renewal of the welcome and hospitality at Paris airports, and in particular the best in design and culture that we wish to offer to our passengers.”
A new boarding lounge (designed by French designers Maxime Liautard and Hugo Toro) has been delivered by Groupe ADP’s hospitality brand Extime. Groupe ADP said it offers a “unique design and hospitality experience”, around the theme Paris est une fête.
Another key element of the upgrade was the modernisation of the central body (including marble flooring, digital signage and a change of LED lights) and a new international passenger path, culminating with a new 5,600sq m boarding hall.
The creation of these new areas was made possible by the connection between satellites 1, 2 and 3 of Terminal 1. This is the first stage, imagined and validated by Paul Andreu during his lifetime; his final and ultimate vision was the complete linking of the seven original satellites.
There is now a single entrance for the international zone instead of four tunnels, and self-boarding equipment has been installed.
Cultural elements have been added in the terminal upgrade project, including:
The ballade of Paris (access tunnel to the new departure lounge, see image above): Jean-François Rauzier offers a successive discovery of reproductions of Parisian monuments and elements of architecture, presenting the city of Paris in a surrealist, offbeat way, by juxtaposing photographs and images.
Archisable (public area, departure level): A photographic exhibition paying tribute to the work of Paul Andreu, through the ephemeral work on sand of some sixty architects.
Paris les numéros 1 (reserved area, satellite 3, arrivals level): Photographs produced by Thierry Bouët, who walked the streets of the twenty districts of the capital to photograph the numbers 1 of each of them.
