Hamburg Airport

Hamburg Airport Flughafen Hamburg
IATA: HAM ICAO: EDDH
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner	City of Hamburg (51%) AviAlliance (49%)
Operator	Flughafen Hamburg GmbH
Serves	Hamburg, Germany
Hub for	Eurowings Germanwings Ryanair easyJet
Focus city for	Condor Germania TUI fly Deutschland
Built	1911
Elevation AMSL	53 ft / 16 m
Coordinates	53°37′49″N 009°59′28″E / 53.63028°N 9.99111°E / 53.63028; 9.99111Coordinates: 53°37′49″N 009°59′28″E / 53.63028°N 9.99111°E / 53.63028; 9.99111
Website	airport.de
Map
HAM Show map of Hamburg HAM Show map of Germany Location of Hamburg Airport
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 05/23 3,250 10,663 Asphalt 15/33 3,666 12,028 Asphalt
Statistics (2016)
Passengers 16,223,968 Passenger change 15–16 3.9% Aircraft movements 160,904 Movements change 15–16 1.4%
Sources: Airport's website[1] German AIP at EUROCONTROL[2]

Airport Hamburg Area Map - 5.5 km²

Hamburg Airport (IATA: HAM, ICAO: EDDH), known in German as Flughafen Hamburg, is the international airport of Hamburg, the second-largest city in Germany. It is located 8.5 km (5.3 mi) north^[2] of the city center in the Fuhlsbüttel quarter and serves as a base for Germanwings, Condor and easyJet.^[3] Hamburg Airport is the fifth-busiest of Germany's commercial airports measured by the number of passengers and counted 16,223,968 passengers and 160,904 aircraft movements in 2016^[4] and is named after Helmut Schmidt.^[5] As of July 2017, it featured flights to more than 130 destinations^[6] of which four are long-haul routes to Dubai, Newark, Tabriz and Tehran.

The airport is not to be confused with the nearby private Hamburg Finkenwerder Airport, where the Airbus factory site is located.

History

Early years

The airport was opened in January 1911 from private funding by the Hamburger Luftschiffhallen GmbH (HLG), making it the oldest airport in the world which is still in operation. The original site comprised 45 hectares and was primarily used for airship flights in its early days. In 1913, the site was expanded to 60 hectares, the northern part being used for airship operations, while the southeast area was used for fixed-wing aircraft.^[7]

During the First World War, the airship hangar was used extensively by the military, until it was destroyed by fire in 1916.^[7]

During the British occupation, beginning in 1945, the airport was given its current name, Hamburg Airport. It was used extensively during the Berlin Airlift in 1948 as a staging area, as the northern air corridor went between Hamburg and West Berlin.^[7]

When Lufthansa launched passenger operations in 1955, Hamburg was used as a hub until Frankfurt Airport took over due to growth constraints posed by the location in the city. Lufthansa Technik still maintains a large presence at the airport due to the early activities of the airline at the airport.^[7]

In the 1960s discussions began with the aim of moving the airport to Heidmoor by Kaltenkirchen. Reasons cited were limited expansion possibilities, capacity constraints due to crossing runways, and noise. Lufthansa had introduced the Boeing 707 in 1960, which made more noise than previous piston engined aircraft. The plans were dropped due to bad experiences in other cities with airports being moved far from city centres and Lufthansa's move to Frankfurt.^[7]

Development since the 1990s

In the early 1990s, the airport began an extensive modernization process. The plan, called HAM21, included a new 500 m pier extension, a new terminal (Terminal 1), and the Airport Plaza between Terminals 1 and 2, which includes a consolidated security area.^[7] The airport's shareholders are the City of Hamburg and AviAlliance.

The Radisson Blu Hotel Hamburg Airport was added in 2009, combined with new roadside access and a station and connection to the rapid transit system Hamburg S-Bahn.^[7]

In January 2016, TUIfly announced to leave Hamburg Airport entirely due to the increasing competition from low-cost carriers. While the summer seasonal routes will not resume, all remaining destinations will be cancelled by March 2016.^[8] A few weeks later, it has been officially announced to christen the airport after Helmut Schmidt, a former Senator of Hamburg and chancellor of West Germany.^[5] Since 10 November 2016, the airport is named Hamburg Airport Helmut Schmidt.^[9]

In October 2016, Air Berlin announced to close its maintenance facilities at the airport due to cost cutting and restructuring measures.^[10]

In June 2017, Easyjet announced it would close its base at Hamburg from summer 2018 s part of a refocus on its core hub airports. Routes will not be affected as they will be served from other Easyjet bases. (Reuters).

2017 chemical incident

Shortly after 12pm local time on 12 February 2017, an "unknown and uncommon" chemical, likely pepper spray according to officials,^[11] was circulated around the airport. At least 50 people were seriously injured and were taken to hospital by ambulance. Firefighters completely evacuated the airport and passengers were forced to wait outside the airport in sub-zero temperatures. All flights had been cancelled and thousands of passengers were left stranded.^[12]

Shortly after 12pm local time on 13 February 2017, a second incident was reported. The local authorities, are not sure about the official cause of the incident, however they assume that it was linked to residue of the spray from the previous incident.^[13]

Facilities

Hamburg Airport originally covered 440,000 m² (4,700,000 sq ft). Since then, the site has grown more than tenfold to 5.7 km² (2.2 sq mi). The main apron covers 320,000 m² (3,400,000 sq ft) and features 54 parking positions, the passenger terminals provide 17 jetways. As of July 2016 the airport only has three routes served with widebody aircraft, however during 2016 three stands will be upgraded with double-jetbridges to provide faster boarding and de-boarding for large planes. These positions will be capable of handling the Airbus A380.^[14]

The runways, taxiways and aprons are able to accommodate large aircraft, up to and including the Airbus A380.^[14] Currently there is no scheduled A380 routes, however Hamburg Airport is a diversion airport for Hamburg Finkenwerder Airport, the location of the Airbus plant in Hamburg, where all A380s are painted and interior fitted prior to delivery. Therefore, the apron facilities had already been upgraded for the use by A380s before the terminal stands.^[14]

Terminals

Main hall of Terminal 2

Hamburg has two terminals, Terminal 1 and Terminal 2, connected by the Airport Plaza and the baggage claim area that extends through the lower levels of all three buildings. These three buildings were designed by Gerkan, Marg, und Partner. Both Terminals have a high, curved ceiling designed to emulate the shape of a wing. In all buildings level 1 is the departure level, while level 0 is arrivals. Hamburg Airport offers 12 baggage claim belts on the arrivals level.

The Airport Plaza hosts the central security check as well as shops, restaurants, lounges and other service-facilities. It houses the S-Bahn station (suburban railway) and was completed in December 2008.

Terminal 1

Terminal 1 was completed in 2005 and is highly similar to Terminal 2 in terms of design and size. It has numerous energy and water saving features like rain water collection for use in restrooms and a ThermoLabyrinth, which uses ground temperature to help regulate the building's temperature and reduce loads on the air conditioning systems. Terminal 1 houses most of the airlines including those from the Oneworld and SkyTeam alliances.

Terminal 2

Terminal 2 is, despite its name, the older facility and was completed in 1993. It houses Eurowings including Germanwings and Lufthansa together with its Star Alliance partners amongst some others.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

The following airlines offer regular scheduled and charter flights at Hamburg Airport:^[15]

Cargo

Statistics

Passengers and movements

Hamburg Airport in 1968

Facilities of Lufthansa Technik at Hamburg Airport with the Heinrich-Hertz-Turm in the far distance

View of the apron

A B707 Lufthansa stored is used for Fire & Security Exercices

	Passengers	Movements	Freight (in t)
2000	9,949,269	164,932	48,669
2001	9,490,432	158,569	43,076
2002	8,946,505	150,271	40,871
2003	9,529,924	149,362	36,018
2004	9,893,700	151,434	37,080
2005	10,676,016	156,180	32,677
2006	11,954,117	168,395	38,211
2007	12,780,631	173,516	44,204
2008	12,838,350	172,067	37,266
2009	12,229,319	157,487	31,595
2010	12,962,429	157,180	27,330
2011	13,558,261	158,076	27,588
2012	13,697,402	152,890	28,174
2013	13,502,553	143,802	28,302
2014	14,760,280	153,879	28,948
2015	15,610,072	158,398	31,294
2016	16,220,000	160,650	35,284
Sources: ADV,[33] Hamburg Airport[34]

Busiest routes

Busiest non European routes from Hamburg (2016)^[35]

Rank	Destination	Passengers
1	Antalya, Turkey	339,922
2	Dubai, UAE	126,240
3	Izmir, Turkey	53,762
4	Newark, USA	48,210
5	Hurghada, Egypt	47,026

Busiest European routes from Hamburg (2016)^[35]

Rank	Destination	Passengers
1	Palma de Mallorca, Spain	839,666
2	London, United Kingdom	749,982
3	Zürich, Switzerland	503,874
4	Vienna, Austria	466,308
5	Paris, France	353,012

Busiest domestic routes from Hamburg (2014)^[36]

Rank	Destination	Passengers
1	Munich	1,347,070
2	Frankfurt	733,060
3	Stuttgart	702,884
4	Düsseldorf	452,750
5	Nuremberg	221,544

Ground transportation

Train

Hamburg Airport station

The airport is located ca. 8 km (5.0 mi) north of Hamburg city centre and 8 km (5.0 mi) south of Norderstedt in the borough of Fuhlsbüttel. HVV, the Hamburg public transit network, runs the S-Bahn-line (suburban railway) S1 which links the airport directly to the city centre every ten minutes. The trip to Hamburg central station takes approximately 25 minutes.

Car

By road, the airport can be reached from motorway A7 using the state highway B433, which is the third ring road. Motorists from the east of the city must drive through Hamburg.

Bus

The airport is also linked by some local bus routes to nearby areas as well as regular coach services to the cities of Kiel and Neumünster.

Trivia

• Hamburg Airport is the inspiration for Miniatur Wunderland's world's largest miniature airport named Knuffingen Airport.^[37]

See also

• Transport in Germany
• List of airports in Germany
• Hamburg Finkenwerder Airport

References

External links

Media related to Hamburg Airport at Wikimedia Commons
Hamburg Airport travel guide from Wikivoyage

• Official website
• Current weather for EDDH at NOAA/NWS
• Accident history for HAM at Aviation Safety Network