Most visitors to Paris arrive at Charles de Gaulle or Orly. A smaller number arrive at an airport eleven kilometres north of the centre that takes no scheduled flights at all, has no baggage hall, and can put you in a car within minutes of the engines stopping.
Le Bourget is the reason private aviation into Paris works the way it does. This guide covers what it is, how an arrival there actually runs, and the ground-side details that decide whether the last eleven kilometres match the rest of the journey.
Paris-Le Bourget — LBG, or LFPB to a flight plan — is Europe's busiest business aviation airport. It handles upwards of 60,000 private aircraft movements a year and has taken no scheduled commercial traffic since 1980, when it was given over entirely to business aviation.
| Distance to central Paris | About 11 km, north |
| Typical drive | 20–35 minutes, longer at peak |
| Runways | Three — 3,000 m, 2,665 m and 1,845 m |
| Operating hours | 24 hours |
| Scheduled commercial flights | None |
| Handling | Several competing FBOs on site |
The runway lengths matter more than they look: 3,000 metres accommodates long-range aircraft and VIP-configured airliners, so Le Bourget is not restricted to light and midsize jets.
It also has a history. This is the field Lindbergh landed at in 1927, and the Musée de l'air et de l'espace is still on the site — genuinely worth an hour if aviation interests you and you have one to spare.
The difference from a commercial airport is structural, not cosmetic. There is no terminal to walk through, no baggage hall, no public concourse, and no queue that exists because six hundred people landed at once.
An FBO — Fixed Base Operator — is the private terminal and handling company that looks after the aircraft and its passengers on the ground. Several compete at Le Bourget, among them operations run by names such as Dassault Falcon Service and Signature Flight Support.
The practical consequence, and the single most common cause of confusion on the ground: your operator or broker chooses the FBO, not you, and that choice determines which building your car meets you at. Find out which one before the day, and pass it to whoever is driving. “Meet me at Le Bourget” is not an address.
Arriving from within the Schengen area, there may be no border formality at all. From outside it, customs and immigration are handled at the FBO rather than in a hall shared with a wide-body, and Le Bourget operates around the clock. The process is measured in minutes.
Usually minutes. Where the handler is permitted and arranges it, a vehicle can be brought closer airside; otherwise the FBO terminal is a short walk from the stand. Airside access is controlled by the airport and the handler, never by the car company — so the question to ask is your FBO's, and the answer needs passing on.
| Le Bourget | Charles de Gaulle | Orly | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Distance to central Paris | ~11 km | ~25–30 km | ~15–20 km |
| Built for | Business aviation only | Major commercial hub | Commercial |
| Ground time on arrival | Minutes | Longer — commercial infrastructure | Longer |
| Discretion | High | Limited | Limited |
| Onward scheduled connection | No | Yes, extensive | Yes |
Le Bourget in almost every case. It is closer, it is purpose-built, and the time between wheels-down and moving is not comparable. The reasons to use Charles de Gaulle instead are specific: a connection onto a scheduled flight, or an aircraft or slot requirement your operator cannot satisfy at Le Bourget.
If your journey does involve a scheduled connection, our guide to getting between CDG and Paris covers that side.
The Paris Air Show — the Salon international de l'aéronautique et de l'espace — is held at Le Bourget every two years. For that week the airport is given over to the show: the access roads are congested, parking is exceptional, handling is under pressure and the character of the place changes entirely. If you are attending, arrange everything a long way ahead. If you are not, and your dates are flexible, move around it.
Beyond that, the ordinary Paris rhythms apply. The drive into the centre uses motorways that carry commuter traffic, so an arrival at eight on a weekday morning is a slower run than the same arrival at eleven. And a handful of days each year close roads across the city entirely — 14 July among them. Our guide to the best time to visit Paris lists them.
This is our part of it, and it is worth being precise about what does and does not matter.
The eleven kilometres are not difficult. What decides whether the transfer is seamless is information:
We provide the car and the chauffeur, at a price agreed before you travel. We are not a handler, an FBO or a broker, and we do not arrange aviation services — that is your operator's work. What we do is be at the right building at the right time, with a vehicle sized for the party, and adjust when the aircraft does.
For onward travel, see our Paris car service, our airport transfers, or a private day out of the city — Champagne or Normandy.
Arriving commercially instead: every way from CDG into Paris. Once you are here: how the starred restaurants actually release their tables, dining inside the Eiffel Tower, tipping, and the VAT refund on shopping — which is validated at your point of departure from the European Union, private flights included.
Airport figures cited here are as published by business aviation operators and handlers at the time of writing. Runway availability, slots, handling and customs arrangements are matters for your aircraft operator, not for us.
Send us the FBO, the tail number and the party size. We will be at the right door when you are.