- It's France's busiest, Europe's second busiest (after London Heathrow) and the world's tenth busiest. 65,933,145 passengers and 472,950 aircraft passed through in 2016.
- In terms of cargo traffic, it's the twelfth-busiest in the world and the second-busiest in Europe (after Frankfurt).
- The airport has two pairs of runways, capable of handling 120 aircraft movements an hour. One of each pair is used for take-off and the other for landing, which minimises noise disturbance from air traffic.
- It is named after Charles de Gaulle, leader of the Free French Forces during the Second World War, founder of the French Fifth Republic and President of France from 1959 to 1969. Until the day it opened, it was officially called Aéroport de Paris Nord (Paris North Airport).
- An alternative name for it is Roissy Airport, after the district it is located in, 25 km (16 miles) north-east of Paris.
- From 1957, a location was sought for a new airport to serve Paris. Construction began in 1966 and was completed in 1974. 950 million passengers have passed through its terminals since then. A fourth terminal may be added in 2025 when the airport reaches its maximum capacity.
- Charles de Gaulle Airport has three terminals: Terminal 1 is the oldest and was built to resemble an Octopus. It's a circular building, ten storeys high surrounded by seven satellite buildings. In the centre of the main building there are a number of escalators, covered with transparent tubes to protect people from the elements outside. The Alan Parsons Project album I Robot features these escalators on its cover.
- Terminal 2F was used for the video for the U2 song Beautiful Day. The artwork for their album All That You Can't Leave Behind also features this terminal. The airport has also featured in films such as Frantic, Private Benjamin and Rush Hour 3.
- In 2004, part of Terminal 2E collapsed, killing four people. The subsequent enquiry found that while there was no single fault, the design had little margin for safety. The architect, Paul Andreu denounced the building companies for working as close to the limits as they could to save money. The airport's worst disaster was in 2000 when a Concorde flight to New York crashed into a hotel after take-off, killing everyone on board and four people on the ground. That disaster is thought to have been caused by debris falling off a previously departing aircraft which caused a burst tyre, which tin turn ruptured the fuel tank.
- If you're flying from here, look out for Rabbits and Hares. The area around the airport is notorious for them.
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