Paris/Charles de Gaulle is the undisputed gateway to one of the biggest tourist destinations in the world, and this year, it celebrates its 50th anniversary. Airliner World takes a look at the history of the facility and how far it has come since it opened in 1974
In 1957, the French government decided that its capital required a new airport to relieve the pressure on the city’s other facility, Orly and fully replace Le Bourget. A suitable site, located 16 miles (25km) north of Paris, was eventually chosen with land in three départements: Seine-et Marne, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-d’Oise. One of the communities in the area is Roissy-en-France, and even today, Charles de Gaulle (CDG) is occasionally referred to as Paris Roissy or Roissy Airport.
Planning for the new airport, to be known as Aéroport de Paris Nord (Paris North), began in earnest. Designers, led by chief engineer Jacques Block, were keen to ensure that the new facility would be one of Europe’s largest, most efficient, and most sophisticated.
The final masterplan, produced in 1966, was the biggest in the world at the time. The airport would be built over 12.7sq miles (33km²), a third of the size of the city it would serve. Five runways would accommodate aircraft und…
