To begin I should like to point out that Aeroport de Paris is a public establishment, somewhat similar in structure to the British Airports Authority, whose role is to conceive, study, build and operate civil airports in the Paris region. Our two major commercial airports are Orly and Roissy-Charles de Gaulle. In 1978 their cumulated traffic amounted to 23·5 million passengers, 500 000 metric tons of freight and 290 000 aircraft movements.

The recent history of world air transport is marked with profound upheavals: the advent of jet aircraft, then of jumbo jets, the growth of charter airlines, the creation of airlines by countries having obtained their independence, oil crises, … the latest of these events laden with consequences is without doubt the fundamental questioning of the tariff system as demonstrated by IATA's breakdown, the American deregulation and the re-negotiation of bilateral agreements.