As part of its plan to upgrade Charles de Gaulle and generate more retail business, ADP is spending 560 million euros on a new terminal, Satellite 4, to boost total annual capacity by 7.8 million passengers to 80 million. Chief Executive Officer Pierre Graff said he expects 2010 traffic to match the levels recorded last year, when the airport handled 58 million passengers, about 70 percent of its post-expansion capacity.

Due for completion in 2012, the new terminal will feature heated marble floors, fountains, greenery and high-end furniture intended to showcase French design, the 62-year-old Graff, chairman and CEO since 2003, said today.

The company will have spent 1.3 billion euros in more than a decade upgrading terminal 2E, used predominantly by Air France and its SkyTeam alliance partners, and adding the two so-called satellites. EasyJet’s adjacent terminal 2B base, part of the original 1981 building, isn’t due for a revamp until 2015.

No additional construction will be needed for 10 years, Graff said. “In terms of pure capacity needs we could have postponed the new terminal,” he said.

The decision to press ahead reflected tougher competition for stopover passengers from London Heathrow’s two-year-old Terminal 5 and a revamped Madrid airport, the CEO added. “We didn’t really have a choice — even with less traffic we need Satellite 4 to boost our service quality and improve as a hub.”

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