Before the First World War, a military ‘training ground’ north of Beauvais was used as a landing field. Pilots wishing to land had to ‘fly in a circle between 200 m and 400 m... or launch rockets to give the troops time to evacuate’.

In April 1920, access was granted to civilian pilots on the Paris to London air route.

Opened in August 1922, the ‘emergency airfield of the Air Navigation Service’ allowed landings on a 550 m x 500 m surface. No hangar had yet been erected on the airfield, which had no water supply and no fuel storage.

In April 1935, in response to both civilian needs and general staff plans, the Minister for Air decided to launch a programme of acquisitions and works to ‘increase the length of the airfield flight lines to 1,200 m’. This involved acquiring 150 hectares of land, to which 25 hectares were added after it was decided, in May 1937, to set up ‘a major air base for the needs of national defence’ at Beauvais. The implementation of this expansion decision was overtaken and interrupted by the war.

After the Battle of France, the land was taken over by the German Luftwaffe, which undertook major works. The ruins of the town of Beauvais, which had been bombed in June 1940, were used as a base for two concrete runways, from which the planes set off for the Battle of Britain, as well as a whole network of taxiways and dispersal routes that can still be seen today.

At the end of the war, the Allies took possession of the facilities and used them intensively for bombing operations over Germany.

Paris-Beauvais Airport has become a key player in air transport in France, particularly for low-cost flights, helping to diversify the range of destinations on offer. As the gateway to the capital, it now handles more than 5 million passengers a year. It is a major economic asset, a dynamism that benefits the whole of the Beauvaisis region, and an alternative to the major Paris airports.