Lorient South Brittany Airport or Aéroport de Lorient Bretagne Sud , also known as Lorient-Lann-Bihoué Airport, is the airport

Airport

An airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport...

 serving the city of Lorient

Lorient

Lorient, or L'Orient, is a commune and a seaport in the Morbihan department in Brittany in north-western France.-History:At the beginning of the 17th century, merchants who were trading with India had established warehouses in Port-Louis...

. It is situated 5 km

Kilometre

The kilometre is a unit of length in the metric system, equal to one thousand metres and is therefore exactly equal to the distance travelled by light in free space in of a second...

 west-northwest of Lorient, a commune of the Morbihan

Morbihan

Morbihan is a department in Brittany, situated in the northwest of France. It is named after the Morbihan , the enclosed sea that is the principal feature of the coastline.-History:...

 département in the Brittany

Brittany

Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...

 or Bretagne region

Régions of France

France is divided into 27 administrative regions , 22 of which are in Metropolitan France, and five of which are overseas. Corsica is a territorial collectivity , but is considered a region in mainstream usage, and is even shown as such on the INSEE website...

 of France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

.

The airport's surprisingly large size (almost 3 km by 3 km, about half the size of O'Hare

O'Hare

O'Hare may refer to:* O'Hare International Airport, in Chicago, Illinois, US* O'Hare , a surname * O'Hare, Chicago, a US community area* USS O'Hare , a US Navy destroyer...

 in Chicago) is explained by the fact that it was built during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 to support German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 submarine

U-boat

U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...

 operations from the nearby base in Lorient

Lorient

Lorient, or L'Orient, is a commune and a seaport in the Morbihan department in Brittany in north-western France.-History:At the beginning of the 17th century, merchants who were trading with India had established warehouses in Port-Louis...

.

It is also known as Base Aéronavale de Lann Bihoué and one of the French Navy

Aviation Navale

French Naval Aviation of the French Navy includes 206 aircraft and 6,800 men, both civilians and military personnel. They operate from six airbases, five of them in Metropolitan France and one overseas....

 bases, currently hosting:

• 2 combat flottilles (11F, 17F) equipped with Super-Etendard suitable to fly naval and land combat and recce missions and nuclear deterrence missions
• 1 interception flotille (12F) equipped with Rafale F1 (12F) assuring the air superiority
• 1 airborne radar flottille (4F) equipped with E-2C Hawkeye to secure the fleet airpicture and to control the airtraffic
• 1 training/mission preparation unit

These units also form the airwing which is assigned to the aircraftcarrier "Charles de Gaulle".

Airlines and destinations

External links

• Base Aeronavale Lann Bihoue
• Lorient South Brittany Airport (official site)
• Aéroport de Lorient-Bretagne Sud (Union des Aéroports Français)