“On July 1, 2022, an extremely regrettable episode happened, which led to a disorganization on the luggage”, posed, from the start this Tuesday morning at the microphone of RMC, Augustin de Romanet, the CEO of ADP ( Aéroports de Paris), after a major micmac 12 days ago at Roissy.
He estimates that "much more" than 20,000 pieces of luggage were lost that day at the Ile-de-France airport.
"It's catastrophic, it's the image of our airport that has been damaged," he insisted, presenting his "apologies to all passengers".
Read alsoRoissy airport: what to do if your luggage is lost?
He returned to this chaos: “The ADP group and ADP employees who had to be there at 5 a.m. to launch the baggage sorters (…) and who did not come, (…) it hurt me ".
"ADP is not solely responsible", recognizes the CEO, who explains that at 9 am, it was the registration system for SkyTeam companies (an alliance of 18 companies) which found itself in breakdown… "
As a result, the sorters began to take charge of the suitcases "between 7 am and 9 am", which, according to him, caused "the loss of around 5,000 pieces of luggage".
Then, the breakdown of SkyTeam would have led to the loss of “3,000 or 4,000 other pieces of luggage”.
Then, “there was a chain phenomenon”, he estimated, without giving a precise figure of the missing personal effects.
“This strike, this episode, has created an unacceptable situation”, hammered Augustin de Romanet, committing: “Normally Wednesday evening, all the luggage will have been returned to their holders.
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"Don't come too early"
The boss of Paris airports also gave some advice to passengers: "Do not come too early".
“As the passengers come very early, the luggage is not put in sorters, but in storage.
It can include 5,000 bags, but right now we have 50,000. You have traffic jams, ”he explained.
The CEO recommends coming three hours in advance for international flights, two hours for European flights and "1 hour to 1:30" for internal flights.
Augustin de Romanet also returned to the strike which blocked Roissy and Orly airports for several days, stating, with regard to staff salaries, that "everything has been brought up to standard for 2019, plus a 3% increase. ".
Regarding the shortage of agents, which he considers "infinitely weaker than in all the world's airports", he estimates that "180 to 200 personnel" are missing at Roissy "and "about the same figure at Orly " .
Regarding border police officers, “we have 15% fewer staff than in 2019”, recognized Augustin de Romanet, while ensuring however that “it will not be the apocalypse this summer in our airports”.
Finally, regarding the rising prices of plane tickets, he estimates that they could fall within two years.
“The tension on the demand for planes will last as long as the unrealized trips are sold.
For two years, we have been weaned from travel, so for 18 months there will be pressure on travel because of the catch-up.
