“There will be kayaks, bicycles”, in Roissy, the challenge of handling athletes’ oversized luggage

Three months before the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Paris, the Olympic flame will now travel from Athens, aboard the Belem, to France. In France, preparations are beginning to take shape, especially at the Paris airports and especially at Roissy-Charles de Gaulle, where an extremely complex moment will unfold at the end of the Olympics: to handle the massive departure of the delegations after the ceremony , in 72 hours.

145 people to manage thousands of bags

Because the task is enormous, especially with regard to luggage. For the occasion, the airport has set up a huge white tent of 8,000 m2, ready to receive tens of thousands of bags, of which 17,000 will be considered oversized.

“There will be kayaks, bicycles, poles… Everything that does not fit into the classic machines,” explains Sébastien Malaussène to Europe 1, who will orchestrate this unique sweep of the Paris airports. “So we needed to put in place a dedicated process during the games,” he continues. Up to 145 people will work at the same time in this “luggage factory”, which will be open 24 hours a day.

A structure that will last

Before departure, check-in will take place in the Olympic Village, so as not to disrupt the normal rhythm of holidaymakers, explains Edward Arkwright, CEO of the ADP Group. “The aim is to process baggage outside the normal flow of passengers, as our whole aim during the Games is to provide the best quality of service to the delegations and to the hundreds of thousands of passengers,” he assures.

In total, Roissy airport has invested almost 50 million euros to handle athletes’ luggage. And after the Games, the machines will be used again in other terminals and the huge tent will allow equipment to be sheltered during the winter.