People have mixed opinions on Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG). While I know many people aren’t a fan of the airport, as an aviation geek, I’m sort of a fan. However, there’s one thing I’ve never been able to make sense of, though fortunately that will be changing.
In this post:
CDG’s terminal naming is extremely confusing
Officially, Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport has three terminals — Terminal 1, Terminal 2, and Terminal 3. That seems straightforward enough.
The catch is that Terminal 2 is by far the biggest, and that consists of Terminal 2A, Terminal 2B, Terminal 2C, Terminal 2D, Terminal 2E, Terminal 2F, and Terminal 2G. Oh, and Terminal 2E actually has three halls — Hall K, Hall L, and Hall M.
So you may very well be departing from Terminal 2E Hall M. I’ve never really known the backstory on this, though I have consistently found it to be quite complicated.
CDG will adopt a more logical terminal naming system
Groupe ADP has announced that Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport terminals will be renamed in March 2027, to make a little more sense:
- Terminal 1 will remain Terminal 1
- Terminal 3 will be renamed Terminal 2
- Terminal 2A & Terminal 2C will be renamed Terminal 3
- Terminal 2B & Terminal 2D will be renamed Terminal 4
- Terminal 2E will be renamed Terminal 5
- Terminal 2F will be renamed Terminal 6
- Terminal 2G will be renamed Terminal 7
With this change, terminals will only have numbers, so they will no longer have letters. Furthermore, the number of the terminals will follow the flow of passengers arriving by road and the RER.
I welcome these changes, though I’m sure the transition may be a bit messy, and cause some confusion, since I can’t imagine all signage will be updated overnight (or maybe it will be?). The truth is that CDG just has a really complicated terminal layout, as is the case with many airports, given how they’re built over time, piece by piece.
Furthermore, I could see there being some confusion in terms of multiple terminals sharing the same check-in halls, particularly for Air France and SkyTeam departure areas.
Bottom line
In March 2027, Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport plans to update its terminal naming system, which I think has been confusing travelers for a very long time. In particular, Terminal 2E has caused a lot of confusion, with Halls K-M.
The airport will go from having just three terminal numbers, to having seven terminal numbers. Fortunately we’ll no longer see terminals with numbers and letters, which was always a bit confusing.
What do you make of CDG’s terminal renaming?
Will CDG be the only European — or, indeed, non-US — airport to have a terminal number greater than 5? Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’ve seen terminal numbers 6 and above only at US airports like LAX and JFK.
Hm, people are complaining about FRA as well, that it’s “not intuitive”.
Well, I don’t need an airport to be intuitive (which means different things to different people anyway), I need it to be well signposted.
When I arrive in CDG as a transit passenger, I figure which gate I need for my connection and then follow the signs for the correct Terminal or Hall. I couldn’t care less if it’s called Terminal...
Hm, people are complaining about FRA as well, that it’s “not intuitive”.
Well, I don’t need an airport to be intuitive (which means different things to different people anyway), I need it to be well signposted.
When I arrive in CDG as a transit passenger, I figure which gate I need for my connection and then follow the signs for the correct Terminal or Hall. I couldn’t care less if it’s called Terminal 2E Hall K or Terminal 5 as long as there are signs showing me the best way there.
This is also the trick how to survive FRA and many other airports and it works accordingly when you depart from that airport. Do you think the check-in area or Terminal 2E will be easier to find, just because it’s called Terminal 5 now?
Most people don’t have an aerial view of CDG in their minds and find it logical that Terminal 2F is now called Terminal 6. They arrive by RER or SNCF and then follow the signs, or leave the magic to be dropped off in front of the correct building to a taxi or Uber Driver….
What’s in a name in the end…?
FRA T1 is super easy, one central check in area, then security and you're home free. Only thing is some gates are quite a trek, but it's easy to navigate I would say.
I've taken a bus to 2A and thought it would be a quick walk to 2EM... Glad that's finally changing.
It won’t make any difference. The actual buildings and locations are identical.
He knows that. What he is saying is that he will no longer think that 2A is walkable to 2E, that's all.
I would just be happy if someone could explain to me how Terminal 1 is organized in an intuitive way. I really feel like a hamster in a maze there, which is probably related to the transparent tubes, maybe on purpose. And somehow, if you take the wrong elevator without looking you may end up in totally different part of France. Also I have a suspicion that the immigration/border line minders just randomly switch the...
I would just be happy if someone could explain to me how Terminal 1 is organized in an intuitive way. I really feel like a hamster in a maze there, which is probably related to the transparent tubes, maybe on purpose. And somehow, if you take the wrong elevator without looking you may end up in totally different part of France. Also I have a suspicion that the immigration/border line minders just randomly switch the signs between lines at their whim, then leave for a smoke break to come back and yell at people for fun.
Ok this has always bugged me: CDG is the only airport I’ve been to where the signage indicates something is ahead of you by an arrow pointing DOWN (and it’s behind you if it’s pointing up). Is this common standard in France or other parts of the world? It seems like a poor choice for an airport that serves passengers from around the globe.
That is commonplace in many countries
Maybe they'll start selling Laduree macarons with the new terminal numbers on them so that you know where you are.
This entire blog entry and comments (not the commenters' fault) have given me a headache.
Or a sun-sized tumor.
tl;dr - FU, CDG.
just means that alot of AF/DL connections will now involve connecting "between terminals" which might create some angst in some people's minds even if the distance and time to connect doesn't really change.
It’s exactly the same just different numbers.
LAX will do the same :
T1. T2-3 becomes T2. The Tom Bradley international terminal t3 t4-5 =t4 t6 t7-8 =t7.
multiple people including me understand that nothing physically is changing.
People's perceptions of what they have to do to connect will change based on how terminals and concourses are labeled.
Ben wrote that he didn't know how it came about. It came about in the 1980's when Terminal 1 was found to be not a great design. Originally, there were plans to have multiple terminals like Terminal 1. Instead, Terminal 2A and 2B were built. After that the 2C, 2C, etc. scheme was perpetuated.
The renaming of T3 to T2 is bad. They should just start with T4 or, if they have bad memories of the planned T4, start with T5. So 2A becomes T5, etc.
Meanwhile, JFK has active terminals 1, 4, 5, 7, and 8, yet, it's getting a new T1, and T5/6/7 is gonna be a thing. At the end of all these projects (likely 2030), there's basically gonna be 4 terminals in-total. Current T4 would be the second one, T5/6/7 would be the third, and T8 the fourth. *sigh*
The real question for Air France is why do they seemingly always 'board' on-time, only to have passengers wait in the jet bridge for awhile. I can't be the only one who's experienced this.
Many airlines do the same. However it’s likely because the crew sent a message just after to wait.
The real question for Air France is why do they seemingly always 'board' on-time, only to have passengers wait in the jet bridge for awhile. I can't be the only one who's experienced this.
The main terminal will be split between 3,4, 5 and 6.
Didn't they rename some terminals a while back?
Terminal 2G, soon Terminal 7, should just be renamed Terminal You’re Gonna Miss Your Connection
Terminal 2 becomes terminal 3
Terminal 3 becomes terminal 2
I mean, honestly...
Terminal 4 was the expansion project that was abandoned. Maybe they want to skip that...
Terminal 2E becoming Terminal 5 and 2F becoming only part of Terminal 3 will still be confusing for AF passengers though...
Ben: unrelated but did you see Qatar has new amenity kits
Doesnt make sense at all to me.
I'm very use to the old terminal/ naming.
Current terminal 2 halls k-l-m dont have a separate check in area. you check in in terminal 2E.
Similar to current terminal 2G. No separate check in area. You check in in terminal 2.
With the new designations will they be opening new check in areas for the new terminals 5 and 7? I doubt it. So where will you check in if you are leaving from those terminals?
This is confusing now.
Terminal 2G does have a check-in area.
T5 /2E already has a check in area.
It looks like the post has been updated. It initially said that T2 A-F would be 2, and that T2 halls k-M would be 5, which would have made no sense. this update has it making a bit more sense i guess.
I bet it's KLM because of the Netherland's flag carrier - KLM Royal Dutch Airlines - being a part of the Air France-KLM Group. Keyword is France!
Thanks other '1990.' I like that theory.