French ploy to oust freight from Paris
Aéroports de Paris (ADP) is confident that freighter operators, including FedEx and La Poste, will be able to stay at Paris Charles de Gaulle despite French government plans to curtail night ifights.
Prime minister Leone! Jospin said the government would “hold a wide consultation in order to limit the number of movements at night, particularly of air freight… and to that end, will look at how to organise the movement of cargo operations to Vatry”.
ADP marketing development director Claude Elbaz said none of the operators concerned was interested in moving to Vatry, a cargoonly airport some 130km east of Paris. “It is not realistic to move to a place in the middle of nowhere,” he said.
“If they wanted to be based there, they would have set up their operations there. Integrators need access to passenger networks to transfer cargo for destinations not served by their own fleets.”
Elbaz said the announcement, five months ahead of national elections, was political posturing. “We will wait until after the election and see who is then in charge and what is the best choice for our customers and the development of the region,” he said.
FedEx said it would consider moving elsewhere in Europe if it was forced from CDG. Its European hub facilities there cost €220m and took three years to build. MD for marketing in southern Europe, Middle East and Africa Nathalie Amiel-Ferrault said: “It is not clear yet what the French government’s intentions are.
“We would consider a move very difficult, if not impossible. We
must make clear to the government the constraints on an express operator and the impact this would have.”
FedEx connects with 56 commercial passenger flights a day at Paris, mainly usingAir France from CDG. “A move to Vatry would have a considerable impact on our service levels. We would be forced to look at new options in Europe, which is something we would not want to do,” said Amiel-Ferrault.
CDG is already subject to night-time noise limits and has been working on plans for high-speed rail freight links between European airports, taking advantage of France’s developing highspeed passenger lines. This could alleviate the need to müve to Vatry.
Amiel-Ferrault said: “At the moment, the best option is air for distances of more than 500km. If we project 20 years into the future, we would hope that rail services will be much more viable.”
Elbaz said users of CDG “could keep flying widebodied aircraft for longhaul routes, and run the European feeder routes by rail”. He claimed the announcement was an attempt to justify the government’s expenditure of FFr 1 bn (€152m) on facilities at Vatry which were currently under-used.
• The CDG plan was announced as the government revealed it had chosen Chaulnes —130km north of the capital — as the site of a third Paris passenger airport.
‘T5 not excuse to get rid of freighters’
BAA says press reports that it is planning to remove freighters from Heathrow as part of its plans to develop Terminal 5 are “unfounded”.
Conditions of the UK government’s decision last week to allow 15 to go ahead include a limit on flights and a consultation on reducing night-time noise levels.
“It is up to the airlines whether they fly passenger or freighter aircraft,” said BMs head of cargo, Tony Astor. “It makes no difference in terms of noise whether it is a B747 carrying cargo or passengers.”
Heathrow has a limit of 16 flights a night.
