Paris Orly Runway 4 Closure Starts August 10 2026

Paris-Orly Airport begins a long runway closure on August 10, 2026, when Runway 4 shuts for pavement and related works through December 17, forcing about 3,000 flights to be canceled or diverted to Paris Charles de Gaulle.

If you hold Orly tickets between August 10 and late autumn, the traveler decision is to recheck your airline message trail now, accept a rebooked CDG itinerary or refund path when offered, and rebuild ground transfers for the airport you will actually use.

What airport managers and airlines published

The Local’s reporting on the Orly runway works says Aéroports de Paris, which manages Orly, announced that Runway 4 will close for repairs between August and December and that about 3,000 flights will be canceled or diverted to Paris Charles de Gaulle. The runway work is scheduled to begin on August 10 and be completed by December 17, 2026.

easyJet, a major Orly operator, said it was asked, like other airlines, to cancel flights during the works period. The airline told The Local that cancellations affect flights scheduled between August 10 and October 24 and that customers have been offered alternative flights. Other airlines are contacting customers as their schedules are reshaped. Airport managers said they are working with the French civil aviation authority to manage the transition, and the public split between pure cancellations and CDG diversions was still being refined when the announcement landed.

Trade and carrier notices earlier in the year already framed the project as a capacity cut, not a one-day weather delay. Specialist reporting such as coverage of Royal Air Maroc exposure at Orly shows how Maghreb and leisure banks that rely on the south Paris hub absorb the same runway cut even when easyJet dominates the first headlines. Pavement renovation, circulation redesign, and marking work reduce how many arrivals and departures Orly can accept while one primary surface is offline. That is why the count of affected flights is measured in thousands rather than dozens.

Who is most exposed

Leisure travelers on low-cost short-haul routes into Orly are the largest exposed group. easyJet’s public statement shows how capacity reductions hit carriers that concentrate banks at Orly rather than at CDG. Other Orly-heavy operators, including French domestic and Maghreb carriers, face the same compressed runway schedule even when their brand name is not in the first headlines.

Connecting passengers who planned a same-airport Orly arrival and departure need a different plan if one leg moves to CDG. Paris airport transfers between Orly and Charles de Gaulle are not a quick airside walk. Budget time, money, and luggage rules for a dual-airport day, or rebook so both legs use the same airport.

Travelers already in France for August and September city trips should treat Orly as a variable, not a fixed constant. A flight that still shows Orly on the day you bought it may later move to CDG, cancel, or shift several hours. Check the airline app before you book nonrefundable Paris hotels near Orly South or West if your return still depends on that airport.

What to do if your ticket is in the window

Start with the airline, not social media. Open the booking, read the latest schedule-change email, and accept or decline rebooking options before the free-change window closes. If the offer is a CDG flight, recalculate train, RER, bus, or rideshare cost and time from your hotel. If the offer is a different day, protect hotels and tours that cannot move.

Keep proof of the original Orly itinerary, the change notice, and any hotel or rail nonrefundable receipts. Those documents matter if you later claim disruption support under airline policy or European passenger rules. Do not assume every cancellation automatically includes a free hotel night; eligibility depends on the carrier’s cause code and your ticket type.

If you still need a Paris leisure day after a forced schedule change, Deep Arrival’s guide to Jardin d’Acclimatation is a practical Bois de Boulogne option when CDG-side timing leaves you a free afternoon in the city. Use destination guides only after the airline locks the airport and day you will actually fly.

Independent reporting and airline notices should be read together. ADP owns the runway calendar and the 3,000-flight frame. easyJet owns its cancellation window through October 24 and the alternate-flight offers sent to its customers. Other carriers may use different cut dates inside the same August-to-December works season, so one airline’s October 24 line is not a universal last-risk day for every ticket.

How this closure differs from a strike day

A strike often lasts hours or a day and then restores the original bank. A runway closure of more than four months rewrites the schedule file. Airlines remove frequencies, consolidate banks, and move remaining flights to CDG when Orly cannot accept them. That is why rebooking messages started weeks or months before August 10 for many passengers, and why last-minute hopers still need a backup plan when residual cancellations continue after the first week of works.

Capacity does not snap back the morning of December 17 either, and winter leisure demand can still outrun the rebuilt bank for several weeks. Airlines rebuild schedules as the surface returns, and some winter frequencies may stay thinner than the summer brochure implied. Travelers booking Orly for late December and January should recheck frequencies after the airport confirms full dual-runway operations again.

For multi-city Europe trips that only used Orly because the fare was cheap, compare a CDG-based itinerary now rather than after a forced cancel. Sometimes the rebooked CDG flight is fine. Sometimes the better move is a different Paris airport pair, a rail segment, or a refund plus a new carrier. The traveler decision is to choose the complete door-to-door plan, not only the cheapest remaining seat code.

Recheck your airline app tonight, lock the airport and day you will actually use, and rebuild Paris ground transport before you spend more on nonrefundable plans that assume Orly is still your front door.