Dortmund Airport
Encyclopedia
Dortmund Airport , is the international airport
located 10 km (6.2 mi) east of Dortmund
, Germany
. Its slogan is Näher als man denkt (Closer than you think). Since 2006 it has been carrying the name "Dortmund Airport 21", in reference to the fact that Dortmund's utility company, DSW21, is its major shareholder. The airport has a maximum capacity of around 2.5 million passengers and served approximately 2.3 million passengers in 2008.
, which operated flights to Paris
. By the business year 1927/1928, service had expanded to 2,589 commercial flights annually. During World War II
the airport was used as a German air base, and was subsequently used by the British
Royal Air Force
. Service to Dortmund was not recommenced when German commercial air service was restarted in 1955. In 1960, the civil airfield was relocated to Dortmund-Wickede. The old airport was abandoned and occupied by British forces until the 1990s. Since 2006, part of the original airport area has been used as training grounds by the football club Borussia Dortmund
.
and Cologne Bonn Airport
were the dominant commercial airports in the Rhine-Ruhr Area
. Additionally Hanover/Langenhagen International Airport
and Münster/Osnabrück Airport also covered some of the air travel needs of this region. Furthermore, the 257km (160mile) Sauerlandlinie opened in the late 1960s, connecting Dortmund with Frankfurt Airport
in under two hours by car.
Commercial service was restored in 1979 with daily flights to Munich
by Reise- und Industrieflug GmbH (RFG). Nuremberg
and Stuttgart
followed shortly afterwards. Following German Reunification
in 1990, Dresden
, Leipzig
, Berlin
, and London
were added to the flight schedule.
RFG and NFD (Nürnberger Flugdienst) merged in 1990 and Eurowings
was formed, which is still based in Dortmund. Construction was started in 1998, and completed in 2000 on a new replacement terminal. This multi-level terminal prepared the airport for its resurgence.
From late 2000 onwards, Dortmund Airport has experienced a drastic increase in air traffic. In the 1990s weekly service had been generally restricted to a few turboprop
flights to destinations within Germany, as well as occasional charter flights to warm-weather destinations. Since 2000, several new airlines have commenced service to Dortmund, many with mainline jets. Most of the air traffic today is by low cost airlines operating Boeing 737
or Airbus
A318/19/20
/21 series aircraft to warm-weather destinations and business centers.
The first mass carrier at Dortmund Airport was Air Berlin
, which began flights to London
, Milan
, and Vienna
in 2002, supplementing its leisure routes to the Mediterranean. EasyJet
made Dortmund a hub in 2004, and Germanwings
followed in 2007. Air Berlin
eventually ceased most non-leisure routes from Dortmund
in 2005, but EasyJet
and Germanwings
have taken over in this role. However EasyJet had to cancel 5 destinations by the winter timetable of 2008/2009.
, a shuttle bus to a nearby rail station (Holzwickede/Dortmund Flughafen), and a bus to Unna
, a city to the east.
had its headquarters, the Dortmund Administrative Center (Verwaltungsstandort Dortmund), at the airport.
International airport
An international airport is any airport that can accommodate flights from other countries and are typically equipped with customs and immigration facilities to handle these flights to and from other countries...
located 10 km (6.2 mi) east of Dortmund
Dortmund
Dortmund is a city in Germany. It is located in the Bundesland of North Rhine-Westphalia, in the Ruhr area. Its population of 585,045 makes it the 7th largest city in Germany and the 34th largest in the European Union....
, Germany
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...
. Its slogan is Näher als man denkt (Closer than you think). Since 2006 it has been carrying the name "Dortmund Airport 21", in reference to the fact that Dortmund's utility company, DSW21, is its major shareholder. The airport has a maximum capacity of around 2.5 million passengers and served approximately 2.3 million passengers in 2008.
Early history
The airport, originally located in the suburb of Brackel, was first served by commercial flights in 1925 by Aero LloydAero Lloyd
Aero Lloyd Flugreisen GmbH & Co was a charter airline based in Oberursel, Germany.- History :Aero Lloyd was originally founded on December 5, 1980. It was originally headquartered in Frankfurt. The airline start operation with 3 McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 ex Garuda Indonesia.The airline ceased...
, which operated flights to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. By the business year 1927/1928, service had expanded to 2,589 commercial flights annually. 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...
the airport was used as a German air base, and was subsequently used by the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
. Service to Dortmund was not recommenced when German commercial air service was restarted in 1955. In 1960, the civil airfield was relocated to Dortmund-Wickede. The old airport was abandoned and occupied by British forces until the 1990s. Since 2006, part of the original airport area has been used as training grounds by the football club Borussia Dortmund
Borussia Dortmund
Ballspielverein Borussia Dortmund, commonly BVB, are a German sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. Dortmund are one of the most successful clubs in German football history. Borussia Dortmund play in the Bundesliga, the top league of German football...
.
Little service
Over the next decades Düsseldorf International AirportDüsseldorf International Airport
Düsseldorf International Airport is the largest airport in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, and the third largest airport in Germany, handling 18.99 million passengers in 2010....
and Cologne Bonn Airport
Cologne Bonn Airport
Cologne/Bonn Airport is an international airport located in the district of Porz in the city of Cologne, Germany, and is surrounded by the Wahner Heide nature reserve. The airport is centrally located in the Cologne/Bonn Region southeast of Cologne city centre and northeast of Bonn...
were the dominant commercial airports in the Rhine-Ruhr Area
Rhine-Ruhr
The Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region is the largest metropolitan region in Germany with about 10,100,000 inhabitants. It is of polycentric nature and the only megacity in Germany. It covers an area of 7,110 square kilometers and lies entirely within the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia...
. Additionally Hanover/Langenhagen International Airport
Hanover/Langenhagen International Airport
Hannover-Langenhagen Airport is located in Langenhagen, 11 km north of the centre of Hanover, the capital of the German state of Lower Saxony. It is the ninth largest airport in Germany.- History :...
and Münster/Osnabrück Airport also covered some of the air travel needs of this region. Furthermore, the 257km (160mile) Sauerlandlinie opened in the late 1960s, connecting Dortmund with Frankfurt Airport
Frankfurt Airport
Frankfurt Airport may refer to:Airports of Frankfurt, Germany:*Frankfurt Airport , the largest airport in Germany*Frankfurt Egelsbach Airport, a general aviation airport*Frankfurt-Hahn Airport , a converted U.S...
in under two hours by car.
Commercial service was restored in 1979 with daily flights to Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
by Reise- und Industrieflug GmbH (RFG). Nuremberg
Nuremberg
Nuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664...
and Stuttgart
Stuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
followed shortly afterwards. Following German Reunification
German reunification
German reunification was the process in 1990 in which the German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic of Germany , and when Berlin reunited into a single city, as provided by its then Grundgesetz constitution Article 23. The start of this process is commonly referred by Germans as die...
in 1990, Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
, Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
, Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, and London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
were added to the flight schedule.
RFG and NFD (Nürnberger Flugdienst) merged in 1990 and Eurowings
Eurowings
Eurowings Luftverkehrs AG, part of Lufthansa Regional, is an airline with its head office in the Düsseldorf Administrative Center in Düsseldorf, Germany...
was formed, which is still based in Dortmund. Construction was started in 1998, and completed in 2000 on a new replacement terminal. This multi-level terminal prepared the airport for its resurgence.
Resurgence
Turboprop
A turboprop engine is a type of turbine engine which drives an aircraft propeller using a reduction gear.The gas turbine is designed specifically for this application, with almost all of its output being used to drive the propeller...
flights to destinations within Germany, as well as occasional charter flights to warm-weather destinations. Since 2000, several new airlines have commenced service to Dortmund, many with mainline jets. Most of the air traffic today is by low cost airlines operating Boeing 737
Boeing 737
The Boeing 737 is a short- to medium-range, twin-engine narrow-body jet airliner. Originally developed as a shorter, lower-cost twin-engine airliner derived from Boeing's 707 and 727, the 737 has developed into a family of nine passenger models with a capacity of 85 to 215 passengers...
or Airbus
Airbus
Airbus SAS is an aircraft manufacturing subsidiary of EADS, a European aerospace company. Based in Blagnac, France, surburb of Toulouse, and with significant activity across Europe, the company produces around half of the world's jet airliners....
A318/19/20
Airbus A320
The Airbus A320 family is a family of short- to medium-range, narrow-body, commercial passenger jet airliners manufactured by Airbus Industrie.Airbus was originally a consortium of European aerospace companies, and is now fully owned by EADS. Airbus's name has been Airbus SAS since 2001...
/21 series aircraft to warm-weather destinations and business centers.
The first mass carrier at Dortmund Airport was Air Berlin
Air Berlin
Air Berlin PLC & Co. Luftverkehrs KG is Germany's second largest airline, after Lufthansa, and Europe's sixth largest airline in terms of passengers....
, which began flights to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
, and Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
in 2002, supplementing its leisure routes to the Mediterranean. EasyJet
EasyJet
EasyJet Airline Company Limited is a British airline headquartered at London Luton Airport. It carries more passengers than any other United Kingdom-based airline, operating domestic and international scheduled services on 500 routes between 118 European, North African, and West Asian airports...
made Dortmund a hub in 2004, and Germanwings
Germanwings
Germanwings GmbH is a low-cost airline based in Cologne, Germany, and is wholly owned by Lufthansa. Cologne Bonn Airport, Stuttgart Airport and Berlin-Schönefeld Airport are the important hubs in the airline's network of approximately 70 destinations...
followed in 2007. Air Berlin
Air Berlin
Air Berlin PLC & Co. Luftverkehrs KG is Germany's second largest airline, after Lufthansa, and Europe's sixth largest airline in terms of passengers....
eventually ceased most non-leisure routes from Dortmund
Dortmund
Dortmund is a city in Germany. It is located in the Bundesland of North Rhine-Westphalia, in the Ruhr area. Its population of 585,045 makes it the 7th largest city in Germany and the 34th largest in the European Union....
in 2005, but EasyJet
EasyJet
EasyJet Airline Company Limited is a British airline headquartered at London Luton Airport. It carries more passengers than any other United Kingdom-based airline, operating domestic and international scheduled services on 500 routes between 118 European, North African, and West Asian airports...
and Germanwings
Germanwings
Germanwings GmbH is a low-cost airline based in Cologne, Germany, and is wholly owned by Lufthansa. Cologne Bonn Airport, Stuttgart Airport and Berlin-Schönefeld Airport are the important hubs in the airline's network of approximately 70 destinations...
have taken over in this role. However EasyJet had to cancel 5 destinations by the winter timetable of 2008/2009.
Ground transportation
Dortmund Airport is served by an express bus to Dortmund Main StationDortmund Hauptbahnhof
is the central station for the city of Dortmund in Germany.The station's origins lie in a joint station of the Köln-Mindener Eisenbahn and Bergisch-Märkische Eisenbahn which was built north of the city centre in 1847. That station was replaced by a new station, erected in 1910 at the current site....
, a shuttle bus to a nearby rail station (Holzwickede/Dortmund Flughafen), and a bus to Unna
Unna
Unna is a town of around 67,000 people in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, the seat of the Unna district.-Geography:Unna is situated on an ancient salt-trading route, the Hellweg road. Trade on this route and during the period of the Hansa Trade Route came from as far as London...
, a city to the east.
Future
The airport's master plan consists of the following elements:- Increasing normal operating hours by one hour at night (to 23:00h), with an additional one hour window in the morning and at night for exceptions
- Lengthening the runway to 2800 metres
- Expanding the terminal and its infrastructure
- Improving motorway connections
- Directly connecting the airport to mass transit
Other facilities
At one time EurowingsEurowings
Eurowings Luftverkehrs AG, part of Lufthansa Regional, is an airline with its head office in the Düsseldorf Administrative Center in Düsseldorf, Germany...
had its headquarters, the Dortmund Administrative Center (Verwaltungsstandort Dortmund), at the airport.
Airlines and destinations
Accidents and incidents
- On 3 January 2010, Air BerlinAir BerlinAir Berlin PLC & Co. Luftverkehrs KG is Germany's second largest airline, after Lufthansa, and Europe's sixth largest airline in terms of passengers....
Flight 2450, operated by a Boeing 737-800 (D-ABKF) overran the end of the runway after an aborted take-off at high speed due to an airspeed discrepancy on the two pilots' instruments. There were no injuries among the 171 people on board.
Passenger numbers
| Number of Movements | Freight (Tonnes) |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 1,064,149 | 37,393 | 257 | |
| 2002 | 994,478 | 33,812 | 289 | |
| 2003 | 1,023,329 | 29,788 | 96 | |
| 2004 | 1,179,028 | 25,743 | 75 | |
| 2005 | 1,742,911 | 30,672 | 58 | |
| 2006 | 2,019,651 | 32,785 | 37 | |
| 2007 | 2,155,057 | 32,223 | 40 | |
| 2008 | 2,329,440 | 29,555 | 35 | |
| 2009 | 1,711,157 | 24,043 | 21 | |
| 2010 | 1,747,731 | 24,232 | 33 | |
| Source: ADV German Airports Association | ||||