The "Direction de la Police aux Frontières" (head of French Border Police) and Groupe ADP have joined forces to draw up a monthly report on the waiting times encountered by passengers at the various border control points at Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly Airports.
General trend observed in June 2023 [1]:
For the record, the maximum waiting times at the Border Police in airports, targeted by the French Prime Minister - during the inter-ministerial council on tourism on 26th July 2017 -, are 30 minutes for European nationals and 45 minutes for non-Europeans.
- At Paris-Charles de Gaulle: out of nearly 4 million passengers on international flights [2], 77.2% waited less than 10 minutes, 96.5% less than 30 minutes and 99% less than 45 minutes.
- At Paris-Orly: out of nearly 1.1 passengers on international flights, 90.4% waited less than 10 minutes, 99.5% less than 30 minutes and 99.9% less than 45 minutes.
Events resulting in waiting times of over 30 minutes [3]:
At Paris-Charles de Gaulle /
Week 22: 86 events impacting approximately 23,400 passengers, with an average waiting time of 45 minutes.
Week 23: 131 events with an impact on approximately 42,300 passengers, with an average waiting time of 50 minutes.
Week 24: 68 events with an impact on approximately 22,800 passengers, with an average waiting time of 45 minutes.
Week 25: 66 events affecting around 19,100 passengers, with an average waiting time of 45 minutes.
Week 26: 86 events affecting around 25,600 passengers, with an average waiting time of 45 minutes.
At Paris-Orly /
Week 22: no event resulted in a waiting time more than 30 minutes.
Week 23: 1 event affecting approximately 230 passengers, with an average waiting time of 35 minutes.
Week 24: 4 events affecting around 800 passengers, with an average waiting time of 45 minutes.
Week 25: 2 events affecting approximately 190 passengers, with an average waiting time of 45 minutes.
Week 26: 3 events affecting approximately 600 passengers, with an average waiting time of 35 minutes.
Flashbacks at some events:
- Monday June 5th, arrivals at Paris-Charles de Gaulle Terminal 2B: a computer breakdown in the cross-border control system, between 11:55 and 12:20 am, involving the closure of the PARAFE airlocks during this time slot, combined with a heavy passenger flow. The staff present were unable to absorb the traffic overload. Groupe ADP set up a delay system for arrivals and passenger flows at the disembarkation gates. Around 500 passengers waited up to 1.40 a.m. during this episode.
- On Thursday June 8th, at arrivals in Terminal 1 at Paris-Charles de Gaulle: a computer breakdown in the border control system, which had the same effect when many passengers were going through control, was repeated: around 500 passengers waited up to 1:30 in Terminal 1 in the middle of the afternoon.
- On Wednesday June 7th, at Schengen transfer controls to the International Hub at Paris-Charles de Gaulle: police officers were mobilized on priority missions: some 350 passengers waited up to 1 hour at these controls, due to the mobilization of several border police officers on unscheduled priority missions, which did not allow them to absorb the morning peak in connections around 9:00 am. In the second half of the morning, the number of police officers was significantly increased, while maximizing the use of the PARAFE airlocks, which significantly reduced waiting times.
- On Saturday June 10th, arrivals at Terminal 2E at Paris-Charles de Gaulle were prioritized for departures: some 1,900 passengers waited up to 90 minutes to cross the border. On this busy Saturday, the decision was made to prioritize departures, to guarantee the punctuality of the flight schedule. Preventive measures (distribution of water, prioritization of fragile passengers) were put in place by the hosts and hostesses, and guidance to the PARAFE airlocks was optimized.
- Monday June 12th, departures from Terminal 1 at Paris-Charles de Gaulle were extremely busy: during the morning, some 2,000 passengers waited for up to 1 hour, despite all police booths and PARAFE airlocks being open. A system was set up to create a "buffer zone" upstream of the controls, to avoid saturating the waiting area, and the hosts and hostesses directed as many eligible passengers as possible to the PARAFE airlocks.
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Eligibility for PARAFE airlocks
In the run-up to this summer's major departures, the number of nationalities eligible for the Parafe airlocks, the rapid, automated border crossing system, has been extended at Paris-Charles de Gaulle.
In addition to European citizens, there are now 61 nationalities eligible for departures (people aged 18 and over) and 13 nationalities eligible for arrivals (people aged 12 and over).
As 70% of Paris-Orly's traffic is currently made up of Schengen passengers, this expansion is not being applied this summer, but will be for the summer of 2024 and the Olympic and Paralympic Games, in parallel with the deployment of new PARAFE airlocks.
This expansion will increase the use of the 139 PARAFE airlocks that Groupe ADP has already installed.
Nationalities eligible for PARAFE at Paris-CDG on arrival:
Andorra, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States.
Nationalities eligible for departure - all of the above plus:
Albania, Algeria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Cameroon, China, Côte d'Ivoire, Ecuador, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Northern Macedonia, Malaysia, Maldives, Moldavia, Montenegro, Morocco, United Arab Emirates, Nepal, Oman, Panama, Paraguay, Philippines, Qatar, Russia, Rwanda, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Serbia, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, East Timor, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Uruguay, Vatican City, Zimbabwe.
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Details of monthly results for June 2023 regarding Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly:
[1] At Paris-Charles de Gaulle, in May, out of nearly 2.9 million international passengers, 80% waited less than 10 minutes, 77% less than 30 minutes and 99% less than 45 minutes.
At Paris-Orly, in May, out of nearly 880,000 international passengers, 88% waited less than 10 minutes, 99.2% less than 30 minutes and 99.9% less than 45 minutes.
[2] Passengers who crossed a border at departures, connections or arrivals at Paris-Charles de Gaulle or Paris-Orly are taken into account (not therefore passengers on domestic or Schengen flights).
[3] Events impacting more than 50 passengers per calendar week are included. Two occurrences must be separated by 20 minutes, otherwise only one event is counted.
