Musée de l’Air et de l’Espace at Paris-Le Bourget Airport

Updated: October 2026 – There are aviation museums, and then there is Le Bourget. On the northeastern edge of Paris stands the Musée de l’Air et de l’Espace in the terminal where Paris air traffic used to be handled. On the apron in front a Boeing 747 and an A380 are parked, in the hall next door stand two Concorde, and behind the fence business jets take off from Europe’s largest business aviation airport.

This page shows you what you can really see as a spotter, which ticket you need, how to get there and how best to organize your day.

From a hangar in Meudon to Paris’s original airport

The museum is older than most of the airlines whose aircraft it shows today. It was founded in 1919 at the suggestion of the engineer Albert Caquot, and the collection began in a hangar in Issy-les-Moulineaux. From 1921 it was on view in Chalais-Meudon, later it moved to the Boulevard Victor in Paris. After World War II the exhibits ended up in Meudon again.

The move to Le Bourget began in 1973, and the first hall opened in 1975. That brought the museum to a place with a history of its own: from 1919 Le Bourget was the Paris airport and until the opening of Orly in 1932 the only one. In 1927 Charles Lindbergh landed here after his solo flight across the Atlantic. Air France moved completely to Orly in 1952, international scheduled service ended in 1977, the last regional scheduled service in 1980.

The heart of the museum is the 1937 terminal, designed by Georges Labro in the style of an ocean liner. From 1987 it became the Grande Galerie, and for the museum’s centenary it was restored and reopened in 2019. The Musée de l’Air et de l’Espace is a public institution under the French Ministry of Defense.

The airport next door: business jets instead of airliners

Paris-Le Bourget Airport is no longer a passenger airport today but a place for business and general aviation. The operator is Groupe ADP, which also runs Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Orly. Le Bourget is considered Europe’s largest business aviation airport, and around 45 companies in private and business aviation operate there.

There are three runways: 07/25 at 3,000 meters, 03/21 at 2,665 meters and the shorter 09/27 at 1,845 meters. For you that means: from the museum you do not see airliner waves like at Roissy but a constant stream of Falcon, Gulfstream, Global, Challenger and Citation. The types of Dassault Aviation in particular are at home here, from the Falcon 7X to the Falcon 8X. In addition come long-range business jets such as the Gulfstream G650 and the Bombardier Global 7500.

How to reliably tell such jets apart is explained in the article Telling Gulfstream, Global, Falcon, Citation and Challenger apart. Tips on hunting for rare registrations are at Spotting business jets.

The Concorde hall

The Hall Concorde was built in 1994 and is the main reason for the trip for many. Two aircraft stand here that together tell the story of supersonic travel:

• F-WTSS, prototype 001: The first Concorde prototype first flew in 1969. André Turcat tested its flight behavior with it, and in 1973 it was used to observe a solar eclipse – there is a small exhibit on that in the hall too.
• F-BTSD “Sierra Delta”: A production aircraft of Air France, exactly the build standard that flew scheduled service to New York.

With the Boarding Pass you enter the prototype via the rear stairs, cross a bridge into Sierra Delta and come out again above the wing. You can enter the hall itself with the basic ticket. If you want to dig deeper, read the history of the Concorde and the type page on the Aérospatiale/BAC Concorde beforehand. You will also find a Concorde counterpart on the British side at Aerospace Bristol.

The tarmac: 747, A380 and Ariane

Outside on the museum apron things get big. The flagship is the Boeing 747-128 F-BPVJ of Air France. With the Boarding Pass you enter via an outdoor staircase and see parts you never get to see as a passenger: structure, cargo holds, cockpit and first class. You can read the type’s history on the page for the Boeing 747-100 and in the article on the history of the Boeing 747.

Next to it stands the A380 MSN 004 with the test registration F-WWDD. It was one of the test aircraft of Airbus and has been in the museum since February 2017. Next to the 747 you get probably the best subject for a size comparison of the two jumbos – how to tell them apart in flight is shown in the article Telling the A380 and Boeing 747 apart.

Other exhibits on the outdoor grounds include:

Aircraft	What makes it special
Douglas DC-8	Long-haul four-engine jet of the first jet generation
Transall C-160	German-French military transport
Dassault Mercure	French short-haul jet, in scheduled service only with Air Inter
Dassault Rafale	Current standard fighter of the French armed forces
Dassault Mirage F1	Classic French combat jet of the 1970s
Ariane 1 and Ariane 5	Life-size models, built for the 1979 and 1995 shows

Which aircraft exactly stand outside can change through restorations and rearrangements. The Boarding Pass also includes a Douglas C-47 Dakota, the military version of the DC-3.

The halls: from the pioneers to spaceflight

The collection is spread over several areas. In the Grande Galerie in the old terminal you walk through the Salle des Huit Colonnes, the pioneer era, World War I and a hall on air traffic control. Outside at the tarmac, the Hall 1939-1945 and the Concorde hall follow.

Particularly rewarding for type collectors are:

• Hall des prototypes: Here stand one-offs such as the Leduc 010, which was released from a carrier aircraft, the Triton as the first French jet aircraft and the vertical-takeoff Mirage III-V-01.
• Hall de la Cocarde: French military aviation, with the Mirage 2000 as one of the main pieces.
• Hall de l’Espace: Sounding rockets, Ariane, Apollo and the Soyuz T-6 capsule of Jean-Loup Chrétien, the first Frenchman in space, along with his flight suit.
• Plus the halls on the interwar period, on helicopters and on the Normandie-Niemen squadron.

If you want to identify old types reliably, the article Recognizing vintage aircraft in the sky helps.

Light and photography

Most of the collection stands under cover, so the light outside matters only for the tarmac and the terraces. In the halls you work with a higher ISO and a fast standard zoom. For the Concorde hall and the cabins a wide-angle lens is worth its weight in gold, otherwise you cannot get the long fuselages in the frame. What helps with that is in the article Wide-angle and normal lenses for spotting.

On the tarmac the large aircraft stand close together. Full-length shots without visitors and without other fuselages in the background are most likely right at opening. In light overcast you get soft light without harsh shadows under the wings; in sun you check beforehand where it is – with the sun position planner in Planetrack you see that at home already.

For business jets on the runways from the terraces, on the other hand, you need a telephoto, up to about 400 mm. The runways are a good distance away, and on warm days the air shimmers over the asphalt. Then concentrate on jets taxiing close to the terminal.

Getting there: RER, Metro, bus and car

Le Bourget lies northeast of Paris and is easy to reach without a car. The museum lists these routes:

• RER B to the station Le Bourget, then on with bus 152. There is repeated construction work on line B, so check the connection on the day of travel.
• Metro 7 to La Courneuve, likewise on with bus 152.
• Buses 350, 610, 148 and 152 stop at the stop “Musée de l’Air et de l’Espace.” The 350 runs via Porte de la Chapelle, among other places.
• Car: Via the A1 from Porte de la Chapelle to exit 5 “Aéroport du Bourget” or via the N2.

A station of the new Metro line 17 is being built at the museum, and its entrance buildings will be right at the museum. Until it opens, you still change to the bus. Construction work is also under way around the museum until fall 2027, so follow the signage on site.

Paris Air Show: Le Bourget in a state of emergency

Every two years, in June of odd-numbered years, the airport turns into the grounds of the Paris Air Show, in French the Salon international de l’aéronautique et de l’espace. It has taken place at Le Bourget since 1953, its roots reaching back to a show at the Grand Palais in 1909. The next edition runs from June 14 to 20, 2027. The first days are reserved for trade visitors, on the last days the general public is usually admitted as well.

For spotters this is the week with the highest density of prototypes, test aircraft in house liveries and military jets – the terraces of the old terminal were historically the viewing area for up to 6,000 people at flying displays. Which arrangements apply to the museum in this week is announced separately each time. Everything about tickets and strategy is in the article Paris Air Show at Le Bourget. What to expect in terms of test aircraft is shown in House liveries of Airbus, Boeing and Embraer, and how to master a show day photographically is explained in Photographing airshows.

Combining Le Bourget with other spots

Because no airliners fly at Le Bourget airport itself, combining it with Paris-Charles de Gaulle is worthwhile. Roissy is only a few kilometers farther northeast and offers long-haul from Air France and the partners of SkyTeam. The best spots there are described in the plane spotting guide for Paris-CDG. Before you stand at a fence in France, read the article Photography at French airports – the rules are stricter than in Germany.

If French aviation history grabs you, the second big destination is Aeroscopia in Toulouse-Blagnac with another Concorde and the Airbus plant right next door. In Europe, the Aviodrome in Lelystad with its KLM 747 and IWM Duxford are in the same league.

Rules in the museum and at the airport

The museum lies on the grounds of an active airport. Stay on the permitted areas, respect barriers on the tarmac and do not climb on exhibits. The stairs to the Concorde and 747 are narrow and steep; make room for other visitors instead of photographing on the stairs for minutes.

Conclusion

The Musée de l’Air et de l’Espace is a must-visit for anyone who loves aviation. Hardly any other place in Europe offers two walk-through Concorde, a 747 from cockpit to cargo hold and an A380 from the test program on one site – and all of it in a historic terminal from whose roof you look onto a lively business jet airport.

If you are looking for scheduled traffic in series, you will not get your fill here. With an early start, the Boarding Pass and a side trip to Roissy in the afternoon, though, Le Bourget becomes one of the most varied spotting days Paris has to offer.