Weeze Airport

Weeze Airport
Flughafen Weeze/Niederrhein

IATA: NRN – ICAO: EDLV

NRN
Location of the airport in North Rhine-Westphalia

Summary
Airport type Public
Operator Flughafen Niederrhein GmbH
Serves Kreis Kleve, Nijmegen
and Duisburg
Location Weeze
Focus city for Ryanair
Elevation AMSL 106 ft / 32 m
Coordinates 51°36′09″N 006°08′32″E / 51.60250°N 6.14222°ECoordinates: 51°36′09″N 006°08′32″E / 51.60250°N 6.14222°E
Website airport-weeze.de
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
09/27 2,440 8,005 Concrete/Asphalt
Statistics (2014)
Passengers 1,800,000[1]
Source:German AIP at EUROCONTROL[2]

Weeze Airport (IATA: NRN, ICAO: EDLV), less commonly known as Niederrhein Airport, is a minor international airport in the Lower Rhine region of Germany. It is mostly used by low-cost carriers, especially Ryanair. The airport is situated 3.7 km (2.3 mi) southwest[2] of the municipality of Weeze and 7 km (4.3 mi) northwest[2] of Kevelaer, about 33 km (21 mi) southeast of the Dutch city of Nijmegen, and 48 km (30 mi) northwest of the German city of Duisburg.

History

Development

The airport uses the facilities of the former military airbase RAF Laarbruch, it began operations as a civil airport in 2003. There is also a big fire brigade training facility at the grounds of the airport. Its IATA code is NRN because of its official name Flughafen Niederrhein.

Weeze was served by the short-lived Dutch low-cost carrier V Bird, which operated flights to several European destinations, from its inception in 2003 until its bankruptcy in 2004.

In 2008, with 1.52 million passengers, which represented a growth of 80% on the previous year, the airport was among Europe's fastest-growing.

In February 2014, Ryanair announced the cancellation of 18 routes from Weeze for the 2014 summer season stating a lack of available aircraft.[3]

Naming controversy

The airport has undergone several name changes in its history as a civil airport. The operators originally wanted to name it after the city of Düsseldorf, but the significant distance of 70 km (43 mi) to that city, which already had two closer international airports (the actual Düsseldorf Airport as well as Cologne Bonn Airport), resulted in the name being blocked by a court ruling that it was likely to mislead passengers. However, Ryanair still refers to it as "Düsseldorf-Weeze". The airport actually serves better the closer Dutch cities of Venlo, Nijmegen and Arnhem, the German city of Duisburg and the immediate Weeze area than Düsseldorf.

Facilities

Weeze Airport features one passenger terminal building featuring restaurants and shops besides the check-in facilities. The apron, which lies to the west of the terminal building, features nine aircraft stands for mid-sized aircraft such as the Boeing 737-800. As there are no jet bridges and due to the location of the apron bus-boarding is used.

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Weeze Airport:[4]

Airlines Destinations
Ryanair Agadir, Alicante, Bari, Bergamo, Bologna, Bydgoszcz, Edinburgh, Faro, Fes, Fuerteventura, Girona, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, London-Stansted, Málaga, Marrakesh, Oujda, Palermo, Porto, Riga, Rome-Ciampino, Stockholm-Skavsta, Tallinn, Tenerife-South, Thessaloniki, Valencia, Växjö
Seasonal: Alghero, Ancona, Béziers, Cagliari, Chania, Corfu, Ibiza, Lamezia Terme, Palma de Mallorca, Pescara, Pisa, Santander, Zadar
Transavia Seasonal charter: Burgas (begins 2 July 2015), Palma de Mallorca

Statistics

Check-in area at Weeze Airport
Passengers
2008 1,523,990
2009 Increase 2,402,083
2010 Increase 2,896,730
2011 Decrease 2,421,108
2012 Decrease 2,208,429
2013 Increase 2,487,843
2014[1] Decrease 1,800,000
Source: ADV[5]

Ground transportation

Coach

There are direct buses serving Düsseldorf Main Station up to 7 times a day; the travel time is 1h 15min. There are also buses on reservation to Duisburg and Essen in Germany and to the Dutch cities Nijmegen, Venlo and Arnhem. Airexpressbus offers a service from Weeze Airport to Amsterdam with stops at Eindhoven Airport, Den Bosch, and Utrecht.[6]

Train

Bus shuttles serve the railway stations of Weeze, Kevelaer and Goch on a frequent basis. Travellers for Düsseldorf Main Station will need to catch the bus shuttle to Weeze Bhf or Kevelaer Bhf railway stations. The shuttle departs every 30 min from Weeze Airport. From Weeze or Kevelaer Bhf, Düsseldorf Main Station is served directly every 30 min by Regional Train RE 10 with a travel time of 60 min.

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 http://www.rp-online.de/leben/reisen/airport-weeze-verliert-passagiere-aid-1.4801146
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 EAD Basic
  3. ↑ http://www.airliners.de/ryanair-streicht-angebot-in-weeze-kraeftig-zusammen/31489
  4. ↑ http://www.airport-weeze.de/en/voer_hier_een_menuitem_naam_in_4ed375727fd54.html
  5. ↑ adv.aero
  6. ↑ http://www.airexpressbus.com/images/timetable-aeb/Weezewinter.pdf

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Flughafen Weeze.