Paris–Le Bourget Airport (French: Aéroport de Paris‑Le Bourget, IATA: LBG, ICAO: LFPB) lies within the communes of Le Bourget, Bonneuil‑en‑France, Dugny and Gonesse, about 11 km (6 NM) north‑northeast of Paris. Once Paris’s main airport, it now serves exclusively general aviation, especially business jets, and is well known for hosting major air shows, including the Paris Air Show.
The airport first opened in 1919, and until Orly Airport was built in 1932, it was Paris’s only commercial airport. It played a number of historically significant roles: in 1927, Charles Lindbergh landed here after his pioneering solo transatlantic flight, and just two weeks prior, the French biplane L’Oiseau Blanc (“The White Bird”) departed from Le Bourget in an attempt at its own transatlantic crossing, only to vanish without a trace.
On 25 June 1940, Adolf Hitler began his only tour of Paris from Le Bourget, accompanied by Albert Speer and his entourage. Later, on 16 June 1961, the Soviet ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev defected there.
Commercial airline traffic gradually wound down: international flights were suspended in 1977 and regional services ended by 1980. Since then, Le Bourget has been fully devoted to business aviation. It also houses the Musée de l’Air et de l’Espace, France’s national aerospace museum, which has grown steadily since the airport stopped regular commercial service.
In 2002, Erik Lindbergh, grandson of Charles Lindbergh, honored his grandfather’s legacy by flying solo across the Atlantic in “The New Spirit of St. Louis,” completing the journey in 17 hours and 7 minutes. At the airport you can also find memorials: one for Raymonde de Laroche, the first woman in the world to earn a pilot’s licence, and others commemorating Lindbergh, as well as Nungesser and Coli.
Today, Le Bourget covers roughly 553 hectares and is operated by Groupe ADP under the Paris Aéroport brand. It remains Europe’s busiest business aviation airport in terms of aircraft movements, and is also a major hub for medical flights and official government aviation (e.g., Heads of State, delegations).
The airport has three bituminous concrete runways: 03/21 is 2,665 m (8,743 ft) long and 60 m wide; 07/25 is the longest at 3,000 m (9,843 ft) and 45 m wide; and 09/27 is 1,845 m (6,053 ft) long and 45 m wide. According to its operator, it can accommodate all types of aircraft up to wide‑bodied jets, with parking areas and infrastructure designed for very large business and even state aircraft.
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