Frankfurt-Hahn Airport

Frankfurt-Hahn Airport
Flughafen Frankfurt-Hahn
IATA: HHNICAO: EDFH
HHN
Location of airport in Rhineland-Palatinate
Summary
Airport type Public
Operator Flughafen Frankfurt-Hahn GmbH, Germany
Location Kirchberg
Elevation AMSL 1,649 ft / 503 m
Website www.hahn-airport.de
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
03/21 12,467 3,800 Asphalt
Statistics (2010)
Passengers 3,793,710
Source: List of the busiest airports in Europe
For the NATO Military use of this facility, see Hahn Air Base

Frankfurt-Hahn Airport (German: Flughafen Frankfurt-Hahn) (IATA: HHNICAO: EDFH) is a commercial airport located 10 km (6.2 mi) from the town of Kirchberg and 20 km (12 mi) from the town of Simmern in the Rhein-Hunsrück district of Rhineland-Palatinate to the west of central Germany. Despite its name, the airport is virtually equidistant between Frankfurt and Luxembourg - about 120 km (75 mi) to each city (by road); it is closer to Koblenz (about 70 kilometres / 43 miles) and Mainz (about 90 kilometres / 56 miles).

Contents

History

During the Cold War Frankfurt-Hahn Airport was a frontline NATO facility known as Hahn Air Base. Hahn Air Base was the home of the United States Air Force 50th Fighter Wing (in various designations) for most of those years as part of the United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE). It was one of several USAFE bases in Germany (Zweibrücken, Ramstein, Sembach, Bitburg, Spangdahlem, and Rhein-Main) all within 100 kilometres (62 mi) of each other. Beyond their location in the heart of US troop concentrations, these air bases were well situated to reach all locations within Europe and the Mediterranean region.

On 30 September 1993, most of Hahn Air Base was turned over to civil German authorities, the USAF retaining a small portion as a communications site. It is also frequently used for military charters, these flights being operated by, amongst others, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines.

The German government decided to turn the former airfield into a civil airport. One of the main investors in the development of the new Frankfurt-Hahn Airport was Fraport AG, which primarily runs Frankfurt International Airport, the aim being to reduce the amount of traffic using that airport. Fraport AG sold its 65% Frankfurt-Hahn shares for €1 including debt of €120 million to the federal state Rhineland-Palatinate.

Hahn charges its airline operators less due to its remote location. This has made the airport popular with low-cost carriers, especially Ryanair which uses the airport as a major base.

Although its scheduled traffic is almost exclusively international flights, Hahn Airport does not carry the word "International" as part of its name.

Surface transport

Frankfurt-Hahn Airport is almost equidistant from Frankfurt and Luxembourg - the Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof (Frankfurt main railway station) being 123 km from the airport and Gare Centrale Luxembourg (Luxembourg central railway station) being 118 km from the airport.[1]

Bus

Hahn is served by a number of (mostly) private bus operators that run regular services to Frankfurt am Main (1 h 45 min, via Frankfurt International Airport - Terminal 2), Cologne (2 h 15 min), Luxembourg (1 h 45 min) and a number of other cities in western Germany and the region.

Rail

The airport has no railway station (it used to have a freight-railway connection). The nearest local railway stations are Bullay (15 km to the NW, on the Koblenz-Trier-Saarbrücken line), and Idar-Oberstein (26 km south), Kirn (22 km SE) and Bad Sobernheim (30 km SE), all on the Mainz-Bad Kreuznach-Saarbrücken line. Frequent buses also run to the main railway station of nearby cities, the closest being Mainz (1 h 10 min, 60 km/37 mi to the east) and Koblenz (1 h 5 min, 50 km NE).

Car

Hahn is fairly well reachable by road, the nearest Autobahn (Highway) connections are approximately 40 kilometres (25 mi) to the west (A 1) or east (A 61). Parking and car rental are available at the airport.

Technical information

Frankfurt-Hahn has a long runway of 3,800 metres (12,467 ft) in the direction of 03/21. This combined with a large apron allows it to handle larger aircraft such as the Antonov An-124 or Boeing 747. It has an Instrument Landing System available to both sides, with runway 21 being category 3 approved; low visibility conditions being a frequent problem at the airport, especially during autumn and winter.

Airlines and destinations

Frankfurt-Hahn Airport is served by the following scheduled airlines:

Airlines Destinations
Iceland Express Seasonal: Reykjavik-Keflavík
Ryanair Alghero, Alicante, Bari, Bergamo, Bologna, Cagliari, Dublin, Edinburgh, Faro, Féz, Fuerteventura, Girona, Gothenburg Saeve [Begins March 2012], Kaunas, Kerry, Knock [begins 27 March], Lamezia [begins 27 March), Lanzarote, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, London-Stansted, Madrid, Malaga, Manchester, Marrakech, Montpellier, Moss-Rygge, Nador [begins 27 March 2012], Palma de Mallorca, Pescara, Pisa, Plovdiv, Porto, Reus, Riga, Rimini, Rome-Ciampino, Rzeszów, Santiago de Compostela, Stockholm-Skavsta, Tallinn [begins 27 March], Tampere, Tenerife-South, Trapani, Treviso, Valencia, Venice-Treviso
Seasonal: Alexandropoulis [begins 28 March 2012], Chania, Ibiza, Jerez de la Frontera, Kos, Osijek, Pula, Rhodes, Santander, Thessaloniki, Volos, Zadar
Tailwind Airlines Seasonal: Antalya
Wizz Air Budapest, Katowice, Sofia
XL Airways Germany Charter: Arvidsjaur

Cargo airlines

Other facilities

AirIT Services AG, a subsidiary of Fraport, has its head office in Building 663 at Hahn Airport.[2]

See also

Germany portal
Aviation portal

References

  1. ^ "Calculate your route". Michelin. http://www.viamichelin.co.uk. Retrieved 2011-01-19. 
  2. ^ "AirIT Services AG." Fraport. Retrieved on May 28, 2011.

External links

Media related to [//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Frankfurt-Hahn_Airport Frankfurt-Hahn Airport] at Wikimedia Commons