Located just north of Paris, Paris–Le Bourget Airport is one of the world’s most important centres for aerospace, innovation and international exhibitions. Although it no longer serves scheduled commercial airline traffic, the airport has become Europe’s leading hub for business aviation while hosting some of the world’s most influential engineering and mobility events.
Best known as the home of the Paris Air Show, Le Bourget combines a historic aviation legacy with modern exhibition facilities, research centres and conference venues. Its strategic location close to central Paris has also made it a preferred destination for executive aviation, government delegations and global technology companies.
Today Le Bourget stands as one of Europe’s foremost gathering places for industries that shape the future of mobility.
In Brief
- Paris–Le Bourget opened in 1919 and is the oldest airport serving Paris.
- Charles Lindbergh completed his historic transatlantic flight at Le Bourget in 1927.
- It hosts the biennial Paris Air Show, the world’s largest aerospace trade exhibition.
- Le Bourget is Europe’s busiest dedicated business aviation airport.
- The airport is home to the Musée de l’Air et de l’Espace.
- It no longer handles scheduled commercial airline services, focusing instead on business aviation and international events.
History
Le Bourget is one of the historic places of European aviation. Established as an airfield during the First World War, it subsequently became Paris’s principal civil airport and played an important role during the formative decades of international commercial aviation, before the development of Orly and later Charles de Gaulle shifted scheduled passenger traffic elsewhere.
Its most celebrated moment came in 1927, when Charles Lindbergh landed at Le Bourget after completing the first solo nonstop transatlantic flight from New York to Paris. The arrival of the Spirit of St. Louis before an enormous crowd made the airport inseparable from one of aviation’s defining achievements.
As its commercial role diminished, Le Bourget developed a different identity centred on business aviation, aerospace heritage and the aviation industry. This evolution allowed a historic airport to remain active while becoming one of the world’s most recognisable gathering places for aerospace technology.
Le Bourget Campus
Paris–Le Bourget remains an operational airport, but its contemporary role differs considerably from that of Paris’s principal passenger airports. It is particularly associated with business aviation, while its extensive airfield provides the infrastructure necessary to accommodate aircraft that arrive for exhibitions and demonstrations.
During the Paris Air Show, the airport is transformed into an enormous aerospace exhibition environment. Indoor halls accommodate manufacturers and technology suppliers while the airfield itself becomes exhibition space for aircraft ranging from helicopters and business jets to airliners and military machines.
Paris–Le Bourget occupies a central position in international aerospace culture as the home of the Paris Air Show, whose history at Le Bourget dates to 1953. The event brings aircraft manufacturers, technology companies, suppliers and institutions together to present developments spanning commercial aviation, defence, spaceflight and aerospace engineering.
The show combines a major professional exhibition with static aircraft displays and flying demonstrations, allowing new technologies to be presented alongside the machines in which they are applied. Generations of airliners, military aircraft, helicopters and experimental designs have appeared at Le Bourget, making the venue a recurring stage for important developments in aviation.
For Cuore Sportivo, Le Bourget represents the aerospace counterpart to the great international motor shows: a place where engineering, performance and technological progress are presented directly through machines. Its continuing association with the Paris Air Show gives the airport significance extending far beyond aviation transport itself.
Visitor Experience
Visitors encounter a destination unlike any conventional airport.
During the Paris Air Show, the airport becomes the centre of the global aerospace industry, with flying displays, product launches and technology demonstrations attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors. Outside exhibition periods, Le Bourget offers a quieter atmosphere focused on business aviation while remaining only minutes from central Paris.
The nearby Musée de l’Air et de l’Espace is among Europe’s finest aviation museums, displaying aircraft spanning more than a century of aerospace history.
Location
Paris–Le Bourget Airport is located in Le Bourget, approximately 11 kilometres north-east of central Paris.
Its proximity to the French capital, combined with excellent motorway and public transport connections, has made it one of Europe’s most accessible international exhibition venues.
Address
93350 Le Bourget
Île-de-France
France
Website