At the 55th edition of the Paris Air Show (SIAE) last June, Air France-KLM and Groupe ADP announced a strengthened partnership, named Connect France, aimed at enhancing the passenger experience at Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport. This summer marks the launch of the first concrete initiative: a system to prioritize connecting passengers in Paris based on the time they have available to make their connection.
Every day, Air France transports up to 140,000 passengers, nearly half of whom connect through its hub at Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport. To ease their transit through the airport, Groupe ADP has implemented a dedicated route, now featuring a completely redesigned multilingual signage system.
And while Air France's flight schedule is optimized to ensure smooth connections for both passengers and their baggage, unforeseen circumstances can sometimes reduce the available time for passengers to transfer between flights.
Now, when a connection time falls below a certain threshold (for example, 45 minutes for a connection between Toulouse and New York JFK, arriving at Terminal 2F and departing from Terminal 2E Hall K), a priority process is automatically triggered for the affected passengers—without any action required on their part.
Specifically, this system works as follows:
- No later than upon arrivalof the inbound flight at Paris-Charles de Gaulle, passengers receive a text message and an email informing them that, due to the short time available to reach the boarding gate for their next flight, they are eligible for priority access at security and border control. Soon, this message will also be delivered via a notification in the Air France mobile app and through WhatsApp.
- When passengers arriveat the security and border control checkpoints, their boarding passes are scanned and Groupe ADP's service provider is automatically notified of the short connection. Priority access is then offered to them.
The goal is to minimize time spent at checkpoints and ensure passengers can reach their gate within the allotted time.
This system relies on real-time information sharing between Air France, Groupe ADP, and its service provider. The data shared includes:
- Estimated walking time through the airport
- Time needed to complete security screening and border formalities, as well as wait times at those checkpoints
- The updated departure time of the next flight
This initiative, named the "Short Connection Pass" is the first concrete implementation of Connect France.
“One month after signing Connect France, this initiative perfectly illustrates our shared ambition with the Air France-KLM Group: to streamline passenger flows and make Paris-Charles de Gaulle an even more efficient and attractive hub. The Short Connection Pass is simple for passengers and operationally effective—a real step forward in improving the travel experience,” said Regis Lacote, Executive Vice-President of Operations & Innovation – Director of Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport.
“Supporting our customers and making their journey easier is a top priority. Air France's hub at Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport is already the most powerful in Europe in terms of available connection opportunities. Thanks to this joint initiative with Groupe ADP, we are further strengthening its appeal and reaffirming our ambition to position Paris-Charles de Gaulle among the world's leading hubs,” stated Alain-Hervé Bernard, Executive Vice President of Operations and Cargo at Air France.
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