Collapsed Paris airport terminal reopens with style

PARIS (Reuters) - Four years after its roof caved in,killing four people, the boarding area at Paris airport'sterminal 2E is reopening following a 150 million euro (117million pounds) rebuilding project.

The first passengers will pass through its giant lounge onMarch 30, two weeks after Queen Elizabeth opened a new terminalat Heathrow -- highlighting efforts by Charles de Gaulle tooust London's main airport as the top passenger hub in Europe.

"This project supports our ambition to expand because intwo years we will have added capacity for 20 million passengersa year," terminal director Franck Goldnagel told Reuters.

"I think we can catch up with London by 2011 or 2012. Weare already ahead of Frankfurt."

On Thursday, workers were putting finishing touches to the660-metre long boarding jetty after transforming its originalconcrete-covered vault, criticised by many for being toogloomy, into an airy glass, steel and wooden chrysalis.

A 30-metre section of the original concrete roof collapsedin May 2004, just 11 months after 2E was opened. French judgesare still trying to find out what caused the accident.

The reopening marks a return to business as usual for AirFrance-KLM which uses the terminal as part of its Paris hub. Ittransfers European Union passengers from 2F across theconcourse to board flights to North America and Asia at 2E.

FRENCH TOUCH

After years of frowning on the tendency of other Europeanairports to build shopping arcades, operator Aeroports de Parishas started to cash in on the association in most travellers'minds between France and both food and fashion.

It added an extra 1,000 square metres of retail space inthe new design for 2E, including luxury boutiques such as Pradaand Dior, and top French chef Guy Martin of the Grand Vefourrestaurant is responsible for the sandwiches' recipe.

"We were looking for a French touch," said Goldnagel. "Wewant passengers to remember they have been to Paris. Even intransit they will feel that they have seen a bit of Paris."

Architect Paul Andreu, who also designed the dome-shapedBeijing Opera, had left ADP before the accident happened.

The redesigned building preserves the original ellipticalor squashed cylinder shape pioneered by Andreu, but has beenredesigned from the main floor upwards to bring in more light.

A 33,000 square metre glass outer casing on the old roofwas preserved in a specially built airport hangar and becamepart of a new transparent roof stretched across a new metalframework.

Inside the terminal a wooden ceiling with plenty of gaps toallow in light creates a warm feeling while allowing passengersto watch planes take off or land on a nearby runway.

"We saved the glass but this is a new building calculatedfrom scratch. The only special thing was the 'deconstruction'phase," said project director Marie-Laure Kepeklian, a formerroads and bridges engineer for the French government.

The terminal means big business for ADP and its maincustomer Air France-KLM and is regarded as crucial to restoringADP's reputation following the accident. ADP has a subsidiarywhich also builds airports abroad.

ADP, which also operates Orly, had the top passengertraffic growth in Europe of 4.7 percent last year. It saysCharles de Gaulle's traffic of some 60 million passengers isabout 10 percent below Heathrow's, with runway capacity tospare.

"We were walking on eggshells during the reconstruction. Wecould not afford to have a single mishap," said Romain Lochu,an operations executive on the rebuilding team.

"We put in lasers to spot the slightest bending of the roofso that we could evacuate if necessary. It only went off oncewhen a bird got inside."

(Editing by Robert Woodward)