aggiegirl

Here's a totally off the wall question. I learned that the Pope will be flying into Paris the day I'm flying out in September. When the US president flies in/out somewhere, other flights are routinely delayed (happened to me last year flying into Newark). I wonder if it's the same when the Pope flies in/out of a city. I'm hoping my departure is signficantly earlier than his arrival.

Ackislander

I would expect it.

Ackislander

I would also expect major traffic delays if he is coming to visit Paris rather than transitting on his way home from Australia. Sorry I am not up on his itinerary.

caroline_edinburgh

I would not expect this to happen with anyone other than the US president.

flanneruk

Are there AIRSPACE restrictions for your president?

Busy airports handling his flights can get messed up: but that's because he's effectively an arrival without a slot. So the paying customers at the airport get buggered about. There's rarely a congestion problem in the air (his arrival at Heathrow in 2003 had no effect at all on the airlanes over and around London, and scarcely a blip on the normal Tuesday evening running of the airport) : it's take off and landing at the airport that's the prob.

Major cities handle heads of states' official flights all the time, and if they're not arriving at a dedicated airport, the pomp etc happens at a VIP terminal away from where you or I check in. The Pope's flying to Orly, arriving 1110 and the pomp's planned for 1115: traffic between ORY and the Elysee might be messed up between 1100 and 1230- but CDG will be totally unafffected.

Ackislander

I would expect it of any international political figure who has or whose predecessors have been targets of assasination.

I would agree that security forces may act more subtly than in the US, but I feel quite certain that they are there. A papal motorcade will generate as much disruption as a presidential or Royal motorcade.

stfc

There will undoubtedly be airspace restrictions around his flight path, but that shouldn't cause any significant delays to scheduled flights. On the ground the aircraft will probably go to a VIP area so that he can be met by the French president. There are more likely to be road delays as he is driven off but I'm sure the French security forces are used to handling this. Is he landing at CDG or Orly? You might not even be using the same airport as him.

I wouldn't worry.

Dukey

I thought when the Queen took that royal train of hers that all rail lines in the area were to be "cleared" and in fact I know this was reported to be true some years ago..so can we please cool it with "we don't do this kind of silly stuff here on our tight little island" nonsense.

aggiegirl

I guess I will find out soon enough!

kerouac

Heads of state fly into Orly, not CDG, and it does not disrupt air traffic.

kerouac

There are currently no official plans for the Pope to be received by the President. While I am sure they will have a meeting, anti clericalism is too sensitive in France for the President to meet any religious leader at the airport. However, since the current president of France it totally psychotic, anything is possible. He would have trouble sinking any lower in the polls, no matter what he does.