Paris’ Orly airport set to reopen as airlines restart flights from France

FRANCE’S Orly airport in the south of Paris will reopen on Friday but with only a fraction of the amount of flight normally departing.

Around 25 destinations will be offered by 70 takeoffs and landings, compared with the 600 available just a day before the COVID crisis grounded planes across the globe.

Most of the traffic at Orly will come from airlines such as, Air France, easyJet and Air Caraïbes among others who will be flying to destinations like the Caribbean, Italy, Spain and Portugal.

On Friday, it is expected that around 8,000 passengers will pass through Orly’s four terminals, much lower than the normal daily average of around 90,000.

Alain Battisti, head of France’s national federation of commercial aviation said on Tuesday “We are facing an extremely brutal and long crisis, and we are bracing for a resumption that will be somewhat long, if not extremely long,”.

France borders were opened to visitors from within Europe on June 15 and most European countries have followed suit, with some including health checks and/or quarantine.