A huge area of French air space is set to be closed on one of the year’s peak travel days, due to Olympic security measures. Hundreds of thousands of flyers are expected to be affected by the temporary aviation measure.
France is expecting more than 100 million tourists in 2024, thanks to the Olympics and Paralympics. The 2024 opening ceremony for the Games is due to take place along the Seine on 26 July, with boats passing “the iconic landmarks of Paris – Notre Dame, the Orsay and Louvre museums, the Pont Neuf, the Pont Alexandre III, the Grand Palais, the Eiffel Tower,” Tony Estanguet, head of the organising committee has said, noting, “It will be the first time people have free access to the opening ceremony, and not just in a stadium. It will also be a popular event.”
But in order to put in place “the special air security arrangements as part of the protection of the opening ceremony” the French aviation authority (DGAC) says it is implementing a 75,000-square-kilometre (28,922 square mile) temporary no-fly zone, or Zone d’Interdiction Temporaire (ZIT). The zone will radiate out 80 nautical miles from Notre Dame in Paris from 6:30 pm local time to around midnight, with only police, military, dignitaries and other flights with special permission able to operate.
The zone will encompass both the French capital’s major airports – Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) and Paris Orly – alongside budget airline hub, Beauvais. Those three airports would normally deal with some 350,000 passengers on a typical high season weekend. But it is not only people planning to fly to or from Paris who will be affected. Many travellers who have attempted to overfly Paris during air traffic strikes will already be well aware that thousands of flights crisscrossing Europe and on their way to long-haul destinations elsewhere, use northern French airspace. None of them will be able to do so during the temporary ban and will therefore be rerouted into already pressurised airspace over Belgium or over the west of France.
International Ops Bulletin estimates that flight plans to Paris could be affected from as early as around 3:30 pm that day. Easyjet has already cancelled 100 flights, with around 18,000 passengers impacted. Ryanair has also said, like other airlines, it has been “forced to cancel/reschedule a number of flights operating to/from Beauvais airport that day.
“Affected passengers have been notified and advised of their options,” the carrier said. “We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused as a result of this Paris airspace closure, which is entirely beyond airlines’ control.”
