Oh, “le grand Charles” would not be pleased at all about this news item if he were still around! He would surely use some of his famous public statements in an attempt to correct CDG Airport’s faltering image, such as: « Vive l’aéroport CDG libre de tout défaut ! » or « Passagers de tous pays, oui, je vous ai compris ! ».  Hmmm… need I translate posthumous statements of such historical significance?   

However, there is no need for alarm here, I believe, regarding CDG airport because what that website says really is that Paris, as a major world destination and the prestigious capital of France, deserves a higher level of service at its main international airport.

The “Guide to Sleeping in Airports” website is by no means scientific. It basically goes along with user reviews.

Whether or not French people are getting a bang for their tax-dollar (keeping in mind that the Aéroports de Paris management group has been privatised in 2005), and airline passengers for the airport user fee, might warrant deeper public debate or study.

It does seem that CDG airport authorities, Aéroports de Paris, might take notice of issues raised in the passenger reviews in order to make significant and yet inexpensive improvements for the benefit of CDG airport users. 

There are cultural factors involved here that are worth mentioning, some of which I have observed myself over the years. I have travelled through France on numerous occasions, sometimes using major airports, mostly driving through by car. I have had very few unpleasant encounters outside Paris. On the contrary, I was consistently charmed by French hospitality in the countryside and smaller cities.

Paris, is another story, with all due respect for “la Ville-Lumière”.  I’ve had minor mishaps with local folks in hotels, restaurants, banks, on the streets and in airports in Paris. Nevertheless, I would go back there anytime, given the right opportunity. Parisians are great people. However, there is a significant proportion of employees – whether from Paris or not – unhappy with their jobs, so it would seem, and they perhaps take it out on travellers and tourists. Some mishaps turned up to be quite funny, and as a visitor’s reward is to go back home with a delightful yarn to spin about a short stay in Paris. 

Not all passenger reviews about CDG Airport will take local culture into account. In other words, there are ways in which Parisians do their job that, say, adds colour to experiencing Paris.

Sticking to civil aviation topics, in 1985, I missed my Orly to Montreal (Mirabel) flight because my return ticket showed my airplane leaving at 7:30.  I took it to mean 7:00 pm, not 7:00 am. When I showed up at the airline check-in counter (the now defunct Nationair charter company), the company rep just laughed saying out loud how stupid a mistake I made and pointed out that my return ticket was now void. No other information was provided; this person had to close her check-in counter right there and then.

Well, I can think of kinder ways of dealing with ‘stupid’ passengers such as myself. I felt briefly both shocked and stranded. My well-wishers had already gone back home by car hundreds of kilometres away. Not a pleasant experience, although three days later I was back home in Canada thanks to a very pleasant Air France flight out of CDG booked by a helpful and compassionate travel agent at a rock-bottom fare.

I have crossed the North Atlantic dozens of times and up until then, and never had a Canada-bound airliner leave that early in the morning. But Nationair was a charter airline. Gate slot assignments are different for charter airlines. Was I supposed to know that fact? Maybe so, given the nature of my profession.

Meanwhile back in Ottawa, my employer at the time, Transport Canada – Civil Aviation, thought I had quit my job because I failed to return to my desk on the due date. When you are on holidays abroad, the last think that comes to mind are government rules on deemed abandonment of position in the federal Public Service. Another lesson learned.

Well, now I can laugh about the whole experience. I did not lose my job but had some explaining to do. What I am not laughing about so much is the fact that more than 20 years later, many Parisians employed to serve tourists and passengers are just as bold with foreigners as ever before. Yesterday, the “Le Monde” newspaper ran an article noting that fewer and fewer recent French high-school graduates are able to converse in English.

Public education, local culture, airport service levels… it all ties in together. Where does one start fixing the problem? Or, is the problem that serious? It could very well be that only airport users with negative experiences make their voices heard. Happy airport users simply go unnoticed.

Do you know where the sweetest airport P.A. voice originated from? Orly airport, in Paris. People call it “la voix d’Orly”. It’s charming and relaxing, and makes going through airports so much more pleasant and conceivably allays the fear of flying for some.

The 2009 study titled “Key Results of the 2009 ATRS Global Airport
Performance Benchmarking Project” covers 142 airports and 16 airport groups spread over the U.S. and Canada, Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zeeland. The study is ongoing, as the author, Prof. Tae Oum, of the University of British Columbia, and president of ATRS, is seeking additional data from benevolent and reliable sources to include more airports.

In 2009, as far as large* international airports are concerned, the following airports received an award for their efficiency in three categories:

1) Global Airport Efficiency Excellence Award: Atlanta International
2) Europe Airport Efficiency Excellence Award: Copenhagen International
3) Asia-Pacific Airport Efficiency Excellence Award: Hong Kong International and Brisbane International

*Large airports are those that, for the statistical year 2007-2008, handled 15 million passengers or more on an annual basis. Passengers included in the statistics are both international and domestic.

The awards listed above point to overall airport management efficiency, including service levels to passengers.

The data used in selecting large airports for the ATRS 2009 awards do not explicitly take into account extraneous factors such as commuting times to and from airports, aircraft traffic noise levels in the vicinity of airports, environmental impact and other such ‘soft’ factors from an economic viewpoint.

One can only hope that other studies and awards will cast a broader net – not an easy task by all means – and include factors affecting the airports’ surrounding population.

As the ATRS annual study indicates, its focus is mainly on airport performance.

The study does mention in passing that Toronto International (Lester B. Pearson Airport) has been observed as one of the major airports charging some of the highest user fees. The study also mentions that user fees should be matched to service levels and stops short of making any value judgment about Toronto International or other airports included in its analysis. In general terms, the aim of ATRS is to foster the exchange of ideas and data, in a multi-disciplinary context, that will lead to optimum airport management and efficiency for the benefit of airport authorities, airlines and passengers.

There are a number of other organizations who post online rankings of world airports, Skytrax referred to above being one of them and airliners.net yet another popular one.  Needless to say, one should exercise caution when comparing ranking organizations with one another. The easy way to a quick answer about airports that consistently rank high is to check all of these known sources and check for results.

Hong Kong International and Madrid Barajas International keep coming up at the top of such lists, along with a number of airports that did not make it to close to the top in the ATRS study linked above.

Different methodology, different aims and different analytical resources, each and all account for sometimes widely different rankings.

What we need perhaps is a website that ranks airport ranking websites. 

Heck, there are a lot of very good international airports, big or small. Should I had brag about my nearby Halifax Stanfield International Airport? I would have every reason to. Simply remember the amazing job they did of accepting countless diverted airliners inbound to the U.S. on 9/11, on a very short notice.