· 91% overall satisfaction
· A more favourable image of the airport after a trip
· An investment of 580 million euros

According to a recent study* conducted among 816 passengers, foreign travellers are satisfied with the welcome reserved for them in France and especially the services offered at Paris airports. This study dispels certain myths about the Paris airports.

91% overall satisfaction at Paris-Charles de Gaulle
Several different aspects came to the attention of passengers in a positive way at the airport: The speed of check-in (89%) and access to the boarding lounges (91%), the cleanliness (94%), safety (96%) and the atmosphere (95%) in the various areas are all appreciated by passengers.

9 out of 10 passengers are satisfied with airport services.

A more favourable image of the airport after their trip
71% of all travellers reported having a better impression of the airport after their stay than before their departure. (A gain of 21 points in positive views for all passengers: 56% satisfaction before trip compared with 77% afterwards).

'Primary' travellers are those who return from their trip with a more favourable opinion (gain of 26 points in positive views: 55% were satisfied before their trip compared with 81% afterwards).

An investment of 580 million euros
This survey was carried out at a time when considerable investments and transformations were taking place to make Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport travellers' preferred hub.

New infrastructures have been created: opened in June, boarding pier M at terminal 2 E accommodates the largest lounge in the Air France network. Representing an investment of 580 million euros for Aéro-ports de Paris, boarding pier M is dedicated to long-haul flights and can handle up to 7.8 million pas-sengers.

Ultimately, the Paris-Charles de Gaulle hub will be able to handle close to 42 million passengers per year.

This new configuration gives Aéroports de Paris the opportunity to reorganize its installations for the benefit of all airlines. These new infrastructures allow Air France to group its operations to the East of the hub, in terminals 2 E , 2F and 2G.

Air France has taken advantage of this new environment to rethink certain jobs to make them more customer-oriented. For instance, to assist passengers who do not speak English or French, Air France has set up a team of multilingual agents speaking Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese, Japanese, Korean, Tamil, Hindi, Spanish, Portuguese and literary Arabic.

Their understanding of the language and culture facilitate their exchanges with these populations, help-ing them to establish a more spontaneous contact.

The complete survey "France viewed by foreign travellers – and what if the airport left a good impression?" at www.csa.eu and on the Paris Dauphine blog: blog212.dauphine.fr

The survey was conducted with 816 people from the UK, U.S.A, Brazil, China, India and Russia at Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport in April/May. The questionnaire aims to find out what people think about their stay in France and their experience at Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport.