The CEO of ADP was the guest of “8:30 am franceinfo” on May 16, 2023.
Augustin de Romanet, CEO of ADP was the guest of the 8:30 a.m. franceinfoTuesday May 16, 2023. Paris-2024, flying taxis, attendance… He answered questions from Marc Fauvelle and Salhia Brakhlia.
Financing of rail by air: “Air transport is already highly taxed”
The boss of the SNCF, Jean-Pierre Farandou, proposes to tax the air and the highways to find 100 billion euros to develop the rail: “Certainly not”replied Augustin de Romanet. “Air transport is already highly taxed”he justifies. “We pay for 100% of our infrastructure. I simply ask the economic sectors that benefit from state aid in proportions that I will not describe, that they do not worry about going to the neighbor’s plate funds even though they themselves live in part on the public subsidy”.
JO-2024: “A considerable challenge”
“The challenge is to give the best possible image of the country” during the Olympic Games in 2024, says Augustin de Romanet. Aéroports de Paris (ADP) is a partner of Paris 2024.
It is “a considerable challenge“, he says. The airports of Paris will have to accommodate 15,000 athletes, their atypical luggage and many visitors. The CEO wishes to forget the episode of the 35,000 pieces of luggage lost last year at Roissy. “We are doing everything to ensure that this very, very worrying incident does not happen again”he says.
Augustin de Romanet encourages travelers to postpone their flights just before and after the Olympic Games to avoid traffic jams: “I can’t recommend highly enough on days of big athlete arrivals and days of big athlete departures to avoid flying on that day”, he says. The big attraction of the Paris Olympics will undoubtedly be the commissioning of flying taxis. “These are small helicopters that will be tested on experimental lines”he says. “These are devices that will explode in the world from the years 2028 2030. For the Olympics, it will be experimental. We will sell a few thousand tickets at very reasonable priceshe announces. It could be around 110 euros“.
Airport queues: new scanners “within two years”
To fight against the long queues in Paris airports, Augustin de Romanet announces several measures. First of all, the installation of a new generation scanner which will make it possible to no longer take out these liquid products, nor these electronic products: “The experiments are very positive. It saves about 40% of the time”, he says. It provides for widespread installation “within two years”. “We have 10% of people who wait more than 30 minutes” at airports, he says. He wants special attention for vulnerable people.
It’s necessary “prioritize the elderly, prioritize people with disabilities even with invisible disabilities, prioritize pregnant women, prioritize families”, he lists. In addition, 250 contractual people “will arrive in our Paris airports for this summer”. They will thus be able “assist the police” at customs, without “exactly the same missions”he points out.
-Covid-19: attendance “almost” at the level before the health crisis
Airlines are beginning to slowly recover from the health crisis and are finding “almost” the level of attendance before Covid-19: “The traffic of 2019 will be back by the end of this year or in 2024. On the other hand, for Paris, airports, it will be rather within two years”he says. “Asian countries” didn’t come back. Mainly Chinese, but also travelers from Japan and Thailand.
-Ticket prices: it cannot “increase at the same rate”
“I do not believe” than ticket prices “can continue to increase at the same rate that we have observed for the past two years. It is totally impossible”, he believes. For Augustin de Romanet, this increase is explained by the amortization of the cost of aircraft “more modern”, “decarbonized who consume less” with some “sustainable fuels”.
Noise pollution near airports: “Noise must be reduced as much as possible”
“The noise must be reduced as much as possible”, admits Augustin de Romanet while residents living near airports are increasingly showing their dissatisfaction with the noise pollution caused by the increase in air traffic. The CEO of ADP denounces the “pressure” mayors who want to build housing “in areas” near airports. According to him, at Roissy, “there are very few local residents who are seriously impacted” by the noise because the airport “was built in the middle of the fields”. “The noise today is 35% less than in 2003, while traffic has almost doubled” at airports. “We must take all possible measures to penalize noisy aircraft”he says.
Ban on private jets? “Certainly not !”
While Amsterdam Airport in the Netherlands decided to ban private jets eventually in the name of ecology, Augustin de Romanet said it was not “certainly not” a decision he will make. “At Le Bourget, you have 3,600 medical evacuation flights in 2022”, he argues. Le Bourget airport is “a lung of the economic activity of our country which makes it possible to attract a certain number of movements of planes which are necessary”. But Augustin de Romanet would not be “at all hostile to the fact that, when the time comes, we have obligations for incorporating sustainable fuel in business aircraft that are much higher than for commercial aircraft”.
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Find the entire “8:30 franceinfo” of Tuesday, May 16, 2023:
