Service Resumes After Attack by Lone Gunman at ORY

The incident caused the closure of France’s second-busiest airport on Saturday morning, with arriving flights diverted to Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG).

Normal service has resumed into and out of Paris Orly Airport (ORY) following an attack by a lone gunman on an army patrol at approximately 08:30 a.m. local time on Saturday morning. Operations were halted at ORY for hours after the incident, which ended in the death of the perpetrator, who has since been named as Ziyed Ben Belgacem.

Flights into and out of the facility were grounded for hours and resulted in the stranding of tens of thousands of passengers, reports the Independent. The paper also reports that those travelers who had already checked their luggage were forced to wait at ORY in order to reclaim their bags. Inbound passengers were held on the tarmac in order for authorities to complete security checks and those making their way to ORY were warned not to come to the airport.

The incident also had a considerable impact on air traffic at the airport; indeed, scheduled arrivals were diverted to Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG).

The outlet reports that Air France advised passengers “We recommend you to change your reservation. You can postpone your trip at no extra cost until 28 March 2017. You may also choose to cancel your journey. In this case, you will be entitled to a non-refundable voucher valid one year.”

The situation on Saturday was further complicated by the fact that Air France had just begun the start of a three-day strike by members of its cabin crew. The carrier said that it was aiming to operate the majority of its flights during the action, but said that some passengers might have been impacted by what it called “a reduced crew composition.”

Flights from ORY resumed just before 3 p.m. local time on Saturday.

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