The Paris Orly Airport, or as the French like to call it Aeroport d'Orly, with an IATA code of ORY is located some 13 kilometres or a half hour drive to the south of Paris. The airport was actually the main airport for Paris, prior to the opening of the Charles de Gaulle Airport. The airport was originally named Villeneuve-Orly Airport when it opened in 1932.
However as a result of the Battle of France in 1940, the airport which was under control by German forces, was used by the Luftwaffe as an airport for their fighter and bomber squadrons. Subsequently the British and the Americans went in and bombed the airport into oblivion, which kind of left it completely useless to the Germans.
Once the Battle of Normandy was done and dusted, and the Germans packed their bags and went home, the American Air Force assisted in the rectification of the airport and used it until 1945 when the war ended. The American forces remained at the airport, and then handed it back to the French in 1947. The US forces still leased a small part of the airport grounds, but the airport once again returned to a commercial airport.
The airport provides domestic flights within France, as well as flights to Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, the Caribbean and North America. Today the airport is still the busiest in France with regards to domestic flights, the second busiest in France, and handles over 27 million passengers every year. The airport has three runways.