Last week, I went to an airport. This was my first time since February 2020 – a period of over 500 days. I felt both excitement and trepidation at revisiting this once too-familiar routine. Just a few years ago, I might have passed through an airport a hundred times in any 500 days, an energy-draining experience at several levels and one leaving a carbon footprint the size of a dinosaur.
Last week’s return visit to Copenhagen worked smoothly. Happily, both planes were on time and after two vaccinations, my EU pass sanitaire proved an open sesame in Denmark (green listed). I saw Europa Capital’s recent property investments, stayed in a hotel with character and had lively conversation with our local partners on subjects from beyond a French echo chamber. After a long confinement within France’s borders, I learned new things and felt my horizons broadened.
Roissy Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) looked familiar but different. The sense of suspended reality in airports felt magnified by masks and seating areas where every other chair had a big X labelled ‘Don’t sit here!’. The pandemic has famously accelerated the adoption of technology. In an airport context, it seems that means less printed boarding passes and more QR codes on phones. Judging from CDG last week, the pandemic may also have accelerated a change in airport dress codes – stretchy leggings and hoodies seem to be replacing jackets and smart shoes. Some travellers were even shuffling around the terminal with no shoes at all.
Some things in Terminal 2F, however, had not changed, such as the signature sound of Paris airports – the melodic six second jingle signalling announcements. Taking a plastic tray and passing through security was a reminder of an old and particularly dehumanising process. After such a long absence, I had forgotten this military drill and the precise sequence of removing laptops, fluids, belts, watches and shoes. After security, I revisited Exki, a Belgian eatery familiar to travellers. Exki’srange of ‘healthy’ food (Waterzooi stew at breakfast!) remains a curious offering.
Air France has recently been upping its game and the attentive staff were visibly enjoying their jobs
Last week, my real reminder of why to fly came in the air. When the aircraft rose above the clouds, the first sight of the sun was still a childlike pleasure. Under new management, Air France has recently been upping its game and the attentive staff were visibly enjoying their jobs until the (misleading) automatic flight announcement told passengers they would need a recent PCR test to enter Denmark. The smiling flight attendants were suddenly swamped with nervous questions about green zones and double vaccine certificates, revealing that most people are not yet relaxed travellers. Landing back in Paris the next day, my plane taxied to a far corner of Roissy. With surprising respect, passengers calmly obeyed a new social distancing protocol to disembark row-by-row – only to walk 60 metres to an airless runway bus where we were squashed in like masked sardines. Despite some painful moments like this, last week’s journey was a welcome reminder of why air travel is a privilege which widens horizons.
Pre-pandemic, CDG was becoming a victim of its own success and the construction of a new terminal had been approved to cope with the rapid growth in air travel. Coronavirus abruptly stopped all that. Passenger numbers at CDG collapsed from 76m in 2019 to 22m in 2020 – and the additional Terminal 4 has now been indefinitely shelved by the government for ‘environmental reasons’. CDG’s location far north of Paris keeps the elegant city centre free of aircraft noise, but outdated access creates unfortunate first impressions of France. The Grand Paris infrastructure works have – at long last – catalysed an Airport Express train link to Paris’ city centre and a modern alternative to ugly traffic jams or a long and insecure ride on the RER B train.
Post-pandemic, the new awareness of wellbeing is a reminder of the words of Al Gore, himself a big traveller, “…airplane travel is nature’s way of making you look like your passport photo”. Even as the economic rebound in France gathers pace, the surge of Zoom communication is likely to greatly reduce carbon footprints – at least for business travel. In response, CDG has stated the future is ‘green aviation’ – an ambition which sounds like a contradiction in terms. It is likely that when the long-awaited Airport Express train finally arrives in 2025, the future shape of Roissy Charles de Gaulle will still be up in the air.
