Paris Orly Airport

When people think of Paris, they think of Charles de Gaulle. For spotters, though, the smaller airport south of the city is at least as interesting: Orly is where the widebody jets connecting Paris with Guadeloupe, Martinique, La Réunion and Tahiti depart, plus a dense low-cost fleet and numerous airlines from North Africa. Since 2026 the picture has changed thoroughly once more – Air France has largely gone, Transavia France is taking over, and one of the two main runways is a construction site until mid-December. Here you learn how Orly works and what to watch out for on a visit.

From airship port to excursion destination

Orly is much older than Charles de Gaulle. As early as 1923, two enormous concrete hangars designed for airships by the engineer Eugène Freyssinet stood on the site south of Paris. In 1932 Villeneuve-Orly Airport opened here, at first as a second airport alongside the then main airport, Le Bourget. In World War II the German Luftwaffe used the site, and Allied bombing raids destroyed runways and buildings in 1944 – including the Freyssinet hangars. After the liberation the US Air Forces operated the airport before it went back to France in March 1947.

The big upswing came with the Orly-Sud terminal. Charles de Gaulle inaugurated it on February 24, 1961, and suddenly the airport was an excursion destination for all of Paris. On the terraces, families watched jets take off at weekends; in 1963, according to French specialist literature, more than three million visitors came without a flight ticket. Gilbert Bécaud erected a monument to these Sunday outings with his chanson “Dimanche à Orly.” After an attack in 1975, the Orly-Sud terrace was closed to the public.

In 1971 a second terminal, Orly-Ouest, was added, for a long time the home of French domestic traffic – first of the historic Air Inter, later of Air France. When capacity was foreseeably no longer sufficient in the 1960s, the state planned an entirely new major airport in the north. The story is in the profile of Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport.

An airport with a cap

Hardly any major airport in Europe is as strictly regulated as Orly. That has to do with its location: the grounds are surrounded on all sides by densely built suburbs. Two rules therefore shape operations to this day.

The first is the night curfew. Since a ministerial decision of April 4, 1968, there have been no scheduled takeoffs or landings between 11:30 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. The second is the slot cap: a decree of October 6, 1994 limits the number of allocatable slots to 250,000 per year. According to Groupe ADP, both rules continued to apply unchanged during the 2026 runway renovation as well.

For you as a spotter that means: there is traffic only during the day, and the waves are easy to plan. The first rush comes shortly after 6 a.m., after which departures and arrivals run until late evening. Night shots on the apron are hardly possible – if you want light trails of departing jets, you have to start at dusk.

Three runways, but only two in daily use

Orly has three runways, which the operator simply numbers. The longest is Runway 4 (06/24) in the west of the grounds at 3,650 meters, built in 1966. East of it, slightly offset, lies Runway 3 (07/25) at 3,320 meters. The third runway, Runway 2 (02/20), runs north-south, is 2,400 meters long and crosses Runway 3. That is why it mostly goes unused in daily operations.

The principle is simple once you have understood it: in a westerly wind aircraft land on 25 and take off on 24, in an easterly wind they land on 06 and take off on 07. According to French reference works, the wind at Orly blows slightly more often from the west than from the east. How wind and runway direction in use relate is explained in the article Understanding the runway direction in use at airports; for forecasting, Windy and other weather maps helps.

Special situation 2026: Runway 4 under construction

Anyone traveling to Orly in fall 2026 experiences a state of exception. From August 10 to December 17, 2026, Runway 4 is completely closed. Groupe ADP is renewing the runway over its full length down to the concrete slab, part of the concrete structure is being replaced, and new lighting and renovated taxiways are added. According to the operator, a runway needs a new surface layer about every ten years and a basic renovation about every 30 years – the last complete renewal of Runway 4 dates from 1995.

During construction, all traffic runs on Runway 3 and the crosswind runway 02/20. According to Groupe ADP’s information brochure, it looks like this:

For spotters this is a rare opportunity: the crosswind runway, which is almost never used in daily operations, is suddenly in regular use. At the same time operations are thinned out – according to Groupe ADP, about 30 movements per hour and runway are possible at peak times, and more than 3,000 flights were canceled or moved to Charles de Gaulle. Many well-known photo locations at Runway 4 are worthless during this time. From December 17, according to the operator, normal operations apply again – check before every visit whether the schedule has held.

Transavia France takes over Orly

The biggest change in the schedule came in spring 2026. At the end of March, Air France consolidated its Paris flights at Charles de Gaulle. Only the routes to Corsica stayed at Orly. The rest – including the highly sought-after domestic routes to Nice, Marseille and Toulouse – have since been flown by Transavia France, the low-cost subsidiary of the Air France-KLM Group.

For you that means: green dominates at Orly today. Transavia France is in the middle of a fleet changeover, with the Boeing 737-800 gradually making way for the Airbus A320neo. Both types side by side in one picture – nowhere is that as easy as here. The Dutch sister Transavia looks almost the same but flies with PH registrations; the French jets carry F- registrations.

Anyone with Air France jets from the Orly years in their archive now owns a piece of airport history. A sighting on one of the remaining Corsica routes has been a small rarity since 2026 – as have aircraft of Air Corsica, which also flies from Orly to the island.

Long-haul to the Caribbean and the Indian Ocean

Orly’s real highlight is the widebody aircraft of the French long-haul airlines that you otherwise hardly see in central Europe. They depart from Orly 4 and fly to the French overseas territories, North America and the South Pacific.

• Air Caraïbes connects Orly with Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana and other destinations in the Caribbean. On long-haul it flies the Airbus A350-900, the A350-1000 and the A330-300. In Europe you see the airline practically only here.
• French Bee, the low-cost sister from the same group, uses only A350s and flies to La Réunion, North America and Tahiti, among other places.
• Corsair has Orly as its base and flies the Airbus A330-900 to the Caribbean, West Africa and the Indian Ocean.

That makes Orly one of the best places in Europe to compare the A350-900 and A350-1000 directly. If you want to tell the two variants apart or distinguish the A350 from the Boeing 787, the article A350 or Boeing 787? helps.

Who else flies at Orly

Besides Transavia France, two more low-cost airlines are among the big users: Vueling and easyJet have bases at Orly according to reference works and fly A320-family types to many European cities. Volotea is added, with connections to French regions as well as to Italy and Spain.

Also typical of Orly is the heavy traffic to North Africa. Air Algérie serves numerous Algerian cities, Royal Air Maroc several destinations in Morocco, Tunisair various destinations in Tunisia. For spotters from Germany that is a real gain – you rarely see these airlines at home.

Which routes exactly are served changes with every schedule – especially in a year like 2026 with the Air France withdrawal and runway renovation. Treat the table as a guide, not a guarantee.

Terminals and getting there

Since March 2019 the terminals have carried numbers instead of compass points. Orly-Ouest became Orly 1 and 2, Orly-Sud became Orly 4. In between, the connecting building Orly 3 opened in April 2019, joining both buildings into one continuous complex. You find the long-haul airlines to overseas in Orly 4.

Without a car you are in good hands at Orly. Since June 24, 2024, Metro Line 14 has run to beneath Orly 3, and it takes about 25 minutes to Châtelet–Les Halles in the center. Tram T7 stops at Orly 4, and Orlyval has linked the terminals with the Antony RER station since 1991. For the photo locations on the edge of the grounds, though, you usually additionally need RER C, a bus or a longer walk.

Spotting at Orly: what works, what doesn’t

One thing first: France is not Germany. According to the spotter community, at the Paris airports you need a permit from the authorities for photos around the grounds, which you request in advance by email – with details on purpose, period and airport as well as a copy of your ID. The reply can take weeks. Anyone who is checked should have the permit with them. The article Photographing at French airports sums up the details and the current status.

The easiest legal entry point is the observation deck in Orly 4. It is landside, that is, before security, and according to the spotter community usually open. It is good for watching, but only partly good for photographing: glass panes, backlight over much of the day and great distance from the runways. What works well are pictures of taxiing traffic under overcast skies or in the late afternoon.

Around the fence, the community describes a whole series of locations, mainly at the ends of Runway 4 on the west side and under the approach to 25 in Villeneuve-le-Roi on the east side. For many of them you need a small ladder, because fences and embankments block the view. Several well-known spots have become unusable in recent years through higher fences or construction work. The article Ladders, steps and tripods at the airport fence clarifies what is allowed at the fence with a ladder and tripod.

Light and planning your day

The two main runways lie roughly east-west, and the sun is in the south at midday. On the north side of the grounds you therefore tend to have it at your back during the day, while on the south side you shoot against the light at midday. For the locations on the west side, the community recommends mainly the morning through early afternoon, for some places in the east rather the morning or the summer evening. With the article Planning the sun position at the photo spot you can calculate this exactly for your date – in Planetrack the sun position planner does that for you.

Thanks to the night curfew, the day is clearly structured. The first waves run from 6 a.m., and in the evening operations end at 11:30 p.m. In winter that leaves you only a short window of light; in summer it lasts well into the evening.

Orly in the Paris airport system

Paris has several airports, and each has its own profile. Charles de Gaulle in the north is the hub of Air France and SkyTeam with lots of long-haul and cargo. Orly in the south is the airport for direct flights, low-cost and overseas. Le Bourget serves business aviation today and is the venue of the aviation trade show, about which you can learn more in the article on the Paris Air Show. Far out in the north there is also the low-cost airport Paris-Beauvais.

If you spend a whole weekend in Paris, the combination is worthwhile: one day at Orly for overseas and Transavia, one day at Charles de Gaulle – with the guide Plane spotting at Paris-Charles de Gaulle – and a side trip to the Musée de l’Air et de l’Espace in Le Bourget.

Conclusion

Orly is the Paris airport for everyone looking for something special: long-haul jets to the Caribbean and the Indian Ocean, airlines from North Africa and a low-cost fleet in generational change. The strict night curfew and a fixed slot cap make operations easy to plan, while the strict French rules at the fence demand preparation.

2026 is a year of upheaval. Air France is gone except for Corsica, Transavia France shapes the picture, and until mid-December traffic runs on the otherwise barely used crosswind runway. Anyone who comes now sees Orly in a configuration that won’t return any time soon.