French Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet said the man ran into a shop inside the airport before he was shot dead on Saturday morning.
A bomb sweep was underway at the site to make sure the individual was not wearing an explosive belt, Brandet added.
The ministry also reported that a police officer was shot and injured in a separate incident north of Paris.
Emergency vehicles surrounded Orly airport as the elite RAID special police force secured the area.
Security officials evacuated part of the building and urged the public to keep clear while the police operation was underway.
"We were waiting in line to board the flight to Tel Aviv when we heard three or four gunshots nearby," witness Franck Lecam told AFP. "The whole airport was evacuated."
A national police official said the soldier accosted by the slain man was part of the Sentinel special force installed around France to protect sensitive sites after a series of deadly terror attacks.
The man's motive wasn't immediately clear. No one else was reported to have been harmed in the incident.
Minister of the Interior Bruno Le Roux was on his way to the airport, his office reported.
France remains under a state of emergency after several recent terror attacks. In November 2015 multiple terrorists killed 130 people in simultaneous attacks in Paris. In July 2016, an attacker drove a truck through crowds in Nice celebrating Bastille Day, killing 86 people.
Orly airport is south of Paris and is the French capital's second-largest airport after Charles de Gaulle.
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