New Fears for French Airport

A day after a roof collapse at Charles de Gaulle International Airport killed four people, authorities responded to new cracking sounds in the damaged terminal by ordering a total evacuation and warning that the structure might have to be razed.

The reactions Monday to the accident illustrated a recurring tension in French public life between grand aspirations and common-sense practicality. Terminal 2E, a futuristic, cylindrical structure, opened as the airport’s showcase building last June.

A criminal inquiry was opened, and investigators tried to determine whether flaws in design or construction were at fault.

Analysts wondered whether the national taste for prodigious architectural statements has dangerous drawbacks. France takes great pride in its transport infrastructure. Its air, rail and road systems rank among the best in Europe.

With soaring interiors and sky-bridge escalators suggestive of space stations, the terminals at De Gaulle airport resemble sleek secular cathedrals. They exude a cherished sense of grandeur.

Air France, which recently entered a mega-merger with the Dutch airline KLM, envisioned the $890-million terminal as the bulwark of a plan to make the airport outside Paris “the most powerful [hub] in Europe, ahead of Frankfurt and London,” the airline’s chief executive declared last year.

Newspapers were full of indignation Monday that a new structure could have failed so disastrously. Airport employees and union officials complained about a rush to finish construction of the terminal last year. They said that signs of fragility had been ignored.

The airport’s bold design philosophy may have neglected basic features of safety and efficiency found in more humble, U.S.-style “shoebox” terminals, according to an article in Le Figaro.

“There is much criticism from passengers, airlines and certain airport officials of the elitist conception of the terminals,” the newspaper said. “The architectural concept wins out over practical considerations.”

Award-winning designer Paul Andreu is chief architect for the airport agency and has overseen the growth of Charles de Gaulle airport during the last 30 years. Andreu said Monday he would return to Paris from China, where he has been working on the national theater in Beijing.

He declined to speculate on the cause of the collapse. Agence France-Presse news agency quoted him as saying his design for Terminal 2E was “audacious,” but that the materials used were “in no way revolutionary.”

In order to avoid using internal support pillars that could interfere with movement of passengers, the builders of the cavernous concrete edifice emulated the engineering of large tunnels, according to news reports.

Terminal 2E has a projected capacity of 10 million passengers a year, but it was silent and empty Monday afternoon. Firefighters, accident investigators and airport employees evacuated after they heard cracking sounds similar to those that preceded the accident Sunday.

The shutdown will continue as long as necessary, authorities said, and the entire terminal might have to be demolished.

If the structure cannot be safely repaired, “we will tear down the whole thing, of course,” said Pierre Graff, chief of the Paris airport agency. “We will not take any risk regarding security matters.”

The casualty toll -- revising reports Sunday that five had died -- stood Monday at four dead and three injured. It could have been worse if the accident had happened later in the day. An approximately 100-foot section of the ceiling of a waiting area came crashing down just before 7 a.m. Sunday while several international flights were loading and unloading passengers.

Three police officers were credited with saving many lives. When they got a report about the cracking sounds and falling dust, the officers started a rapid evacuation and cordoned off part of the terminal minutes before the collapse.