Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG): flight delays and compensation

About the airport

Charles de Gaulle is Air France's hub and one of Europe's busiest airports. Many travellers change planes here between Europe and Africa, North America, Asia and the French overseas regions. Low-cost airlines also use Orly and Beauvais.

An EU airport under French law: every departing flight is covered by EU261.

Busiest routes from Paris – and what a delay is worth

The 30 busiest routes on Eurostat’s 2024 data, with the compensation for a 3-hour-plus delay or a late cancellation in each direction.

* only with an EU (or UK) airline. Passengers: Eurostat, both directions, routes reported by EU/EEA airports.

Air traffic flow delays at Charles de Gaulle (2025)

EUROCONTROL records the delay imposed on arriving flights when the airport or the airspace around it cannot take more traffic (air traffic flow management, “ATFM”). In 2025, 239,863 flights arrived at CDG; 11,313 of them were held back this way, 5,046 by more than 15 minutes – an average of 0.93 minutes per arrival.

What caused the ATFM delay

• weather56%
• aerodrome capacity27%
• ATC staffing10%
• ATC capacity3%
• special event2%
• industrial action (ATC)1%

Average ATFM delay per arrival by month (min)

1. J
2. F
3. M
4. A
5. M
6. J
7. J
8. A
9. S
10. O
11. N
12. D

Worst days: 5 December 2025 – 14,675 minutes, mostly weather; 22 November 2025 – 12,305 minutes, mostly weather; 9 November 2025 – 9,665 minutes, mostly weather.

2026 so far (to 30 September 2026): 180,891 arrivals, 0.76 minutes of ATFM delay per arrival (better than 2025), mainly weather (53%) and aerodrome capacity (21%).

Air traffic control strike days recorded for CDG since 2024: 25 April 2024 (66 min); 10 September 2025 (319 min); 18 September 2025 (840 min); 29 September 2026 (720 min).

Check what happened at CDG on your travel day →

What this means for a claim: ATFM delays come from weather (56% here), air traffic control capacity and staffing (14%), ATC strikes (1%) or airport limits – causes airlines often cite as extraordinary circumstances. They are only part of the story: most long delays come from the airline’s own operation (technical faults, crew, late inbound aircraft), which this data does not show. Source: EUROCONTROL.

Typical delay causes at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport

• French air traffic controller strikes are among the most frequent in Europe – an extraordinary circumstance, so no compensation, but care and re-routing are due. They also affect flights that only cross French airspace.
• Strikes by Air France's own staff are not extraordinary circumstances (CJEU C-28/20 Airhelp v SAS), so compensation is due.
• Connections between terminals 2E, 2F and 2G take time; a connection that is too short is the airline's risk on a single booking.

Airlines you are likely to fly with here

• Air France
• KLM
• easyJet
• Transavia
• Vueling
• Lufthansa
• British Airways
• Emirates
• Qatar Airways
• Turkish Airlines
• United Airlines

Local information

• Always find out whose strike it was: "grève des contrôleurs" (air traffic control – no compensation) or a strike by the airline's staff (compensation due).
• France's enforcement body is the DGAC. The limitation period in France is 5 years.

Frequently asked questions

Can I claim compensation for a flight departing from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport?

Yes. CDG is an EU airport, so every flight departing from it is covered by EU Regulation 261/2004, whatever the airline and wherever it is based.

Can I claim compensation for a flight arriving at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport?

If the flight departed from an EU airport: yes, with any airline. If it departed from the UK: yes, under UK261, with any airline. If it departed from elsewhere: only if an EU airline operated it.

How is the length of the delay measured?

By your arrival time at your final destination – more precisely, the moment the aircraft door opens at the gate. It must be at least 3 hours after the scheduled arrival time.

Related guides

• Flight delay compensation
• Missed connection compensation
• National enforcement bodies and ADR
• All airports

Information only, not legal advice. Passenger figures are approximate and based on the airports' published statistics; punctuality figures are from the UK Civil Aviation Authority. We earn a commission when a claim submitted through our partner links is successful.

Sources

1. Eurostat – air passenger transport routes between partner airports and main airports (2024) – Eurostat
2. EUROCONTROL – airport arrival ATFM delays (open performance data) – EUROCONTROL

We check every rule against the sources above. Spotted an error? Tell us – see our editorial policy.