One day before the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics, transportation in much of the French capital is beginning to wind down – with the prospect of chaos on Friday and over the weekend.
Eleven key Métro and RER (suburban rail) stations in the central area are already closed, including those serving the Eiffel Tower, the Place de la Concorde and the Champs Elysees.
Road closures for the massive security operation surrounding Friday’s opening ceremony are expected to cause chaos.
A system of passes for vehicles – as well, in some areas, cyclists and pedestrians – is in place.
The French transport minister, Patrice Vergriete, told the news channel BFM: “After 10 am [on 25 July], we no longer guarantee anything.”
The final weekend of July is traditionally a time when many Parisians depart en vacancies or arrive back from holidays by road. Together with closures beyond central Paris for events such as cycling, marathons and triathlons, the transport ministry is warning that the weekend and subsequent days before the end of the Games on 11 August will be “strongly impacted”.
The biggest effect, though, will be the unprecedented closure of the three Paris airports on Friday from late afternoon.
An area of northern France the size of Belgium is closed for five hours to all but official and emergency flights.
Almost all planes will be banned from a circle with a radius of 80 nautical miles centred on Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris from 6.30pm to midnight, local time.
The no-fly zone has been imposed due to fears of a terrorist attack. Normally the final Friday of July would be one of the busiest days of the year for aviation.
The Zone d’Interdiction Temporaire (ZIT) includes both the giant Paris airports – Charles de Gaulle (CDG) and Orly – as well as Beauvais, a key budget airline base north of the capital. Normally the three would handle more than 350,000 passengers between them on a peak summer Friday.
The DGAC says: “A temporary prohibited area (ZIT Ceremonie) is created to ensure the implementation of the special air security arrangements as part of the protection of the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games 2024.”
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