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 November 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 3 million passengers on international flights [2], 7% waited less than 10 minutes, 17% less than 30 minutes and 2.5% less than 45 minutes.
- At Paris-Orly: out of nearly 850,000 passengers on international flights, 2% waited less than 10 minutes, 9.2% less than 30 minutes and 0,6% less than 45 minutes.
Events resulting in waiting times of over 30 minutes [3]:
At Paris-Charles de Gaulle /
Week 44: 41 events impacting approximately 13,700 passengers, with an average waiting time of 47 minutes.
Week 45: 71 events with an impact on approximately 23,500 passengers, with an average waiting time of 48 minutes.
Week 46: 66 events with an impact on approximately 17,800 passengers, with an average waiting time of 44 minutes.
Week 47: 59 events with an impact on approximately 21,480 passengers, with an average time of 45 minutes.
Week 48: 62 events affecting around 14,950 passengers, with an average waiting time of 46 minutes
At Paris-Orly /
Week 44: 4 events affecting around 790 passengers, with an average waiting time of 39 minutes.
Week 45: 5 events affecting around 800 passengers, with an average waiting time of 40 minutes.
Week 46: 9 events affecting around 1,370 passengers, with an average waiting time of 46 minutes.
Week 47: 5 events affecting approximately 760 passengers, with an average waiting time of 49 minutes.
Week 48: 3 events affecting around 1,320 passengers, with an average waiting time of 53 minutes.
Flashbacks at some events:
- Sunday, November 12th, arrivals at Paris-Charles de Gaulle Terminal 1, between 7:00am and 9:00am occasional staffing problems on the Border Police side. The border guard staff present had to cope with very heavy arrivals traffic on this peak, despite the aubettes being fully armed from 8:00 am onwards. Paris Airport teams broadcast audio announcements explaining the slowdown, and additional reception staff were mobilized to assist passengers. Bottled water was also distributed. Around 750 passengers waited up to 70 minutes on average.
- Monday, November 13th, arrivals at Paris-Charles de Gaulle Terminal 1, between 8:00am and 10:00am. The number of border guards present was unable to absorb the heavy traffic of arrivals at this peak (over 4,000 passengers between 7:30 and 9:30). An immediate reorganization of the overall system led to the deployment of reinforcements, which reduced waiting times. The PARAFE airlocks at arrivals could not be opened before 8:30 a.m. (it takes one police officer to supervise 5 PARAFE airlocks). Around 650 passengers waited up to 80 minutes.
- Saturday, November 18th, departures at Paris-Charles de Gaulle Terminal 1, between 6:15am and 10:45 am. The number of border guards present was unable to absorb the heavy departure traffic on this peak. These waiting times were reduced by the arrival of reinforcements from Terminal 2B. Paris Airport teams broadcast audio announcements explaining the slowdown, and additional reception staff were mobilized to help customers in need. Bottled water was also distributed. Around 1,500 passengers waited until 1 a.m.
- Wednesday, November 22nd, arrivals at connections 2F – 2E at Paris-Charles de Gaulle, between 8:30am and 10:00 am. As is often the case outside school vacation periods, the connecting borders were very busy. During the main transfer peak between 8:30 and 10:00 am, the police staff at one of these transfer points were unable to cope with the large number of passengers. This was particularly the case between 2F and 2E, where some 900 passengers not eligible for PARAFE airlocks waited up to 55 minutes.
- Sunday, November 26th, departures at Paris-Charles de Gaulle Terminal 2E, between 7:40am and 12:00am. Work to increase the number of PARAFE airlocks (+20%) necessitated the temporary closure of half of Terminal 2E's departure airlocks, which had an impact on the organization of controls. The decision to prioritize departure controls, in the context of the construction work, resulted in waiting times at both departures and arrivals for a major part of the morning. Paris Airport reception staff were very attentive, distributing bottles of water and, in collaboration with the DPAF, deploying palliative measures such as escorting passengers to other circuits from terminal 2F. Over 2,000 passengers waited for up to an hour.
Details of monthly results for November 2023 regarding Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly:
Methodology: real time data from counting sensors
Since 2019, Groupe ADP has deployed tools to monitor and control passenger flows and waiting times. In particular, sensors allowing the number of passengers to be counted in real time in a queue have been deployed to equip the border crossing and safety control areas of Paris Airports.
This is a real-time measurement tool that is automatically updated every five seconds. It counts the number of passengers in a queue by measuring how long the last person to leave the queue has been waiting. Between 80 and 200 sensors are needed to cover an area, depending on its size.
The data is fed into an operational performance monitoring tool that analyses what has happened in an operational day. It is the data extracted from these sensors that is used to set up this barometer.
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[1] In October 2023: at Paris-Charles de Gaulle, out of nearly 2.7 million international passengers, 87.8% waited less than 10 minutes, 10.9% between 10 and 30 minutes, 1.1% between 30 and 45 minutes, and 0.2% more than 45 minutes. At Paris-Orly, out of nearly 966,550 international passengers, 95.5% waited less than 10 minutes, 4.4% between 10 and 30 minutes, 0.1% between 30 and 45 minutes and less than 0.1% more than 45 minutes.
[2] Passengers who have crossed a border on departure, on connection or on arrival 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.
