Paris-Orly Airport — Paris (Orly, Val-de-Marne), France

Before Charles de Gaulle opened in 1974, ORY was simply Paris's airport, the glamorous point of arrival for the jet age and home to the sweeping Orly Sud terminal that once symbolized postwar French aviation ambition. It still carries that legacy today as the capital's second-busiest airfield, positioned south of the city in Val-de-Marne and increasingly the base for domestic French routes, North African connections, and a growing easyJet and Air France presence. A major redevelopment consolidated the airport's aging, disconnected terminals into a single unified building, Orly 4, intended to modernize an airport whose bones dated to the mid-twentieth century. Orly connects to central Paris via the Orlyval shuttle and RER rail links, making it a practical option for travelers who find Charles de Gaulle's distance from the city center inconvenient, even though it now carries a smaller share of the region's total international traffic.