Düsseldorf Airport
Düsseldorf Airport Flughafen Düsseldorf | |||||||||||||||
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Airport type | Public | ||||||||||||||
Operator | Flughafen Düsseldorf GmbH | ||||||||||||||
Serves | Düsseldorf, Germany | ||||||||||||||
Hub for |
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Focus city for | |||||||||||||||
Elevation AMSL | 44.8 m / 147 ft | ||||||||||||||
Website | dus.com | ||||||||||||||
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Runways | |||||||||||||||
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Statistics (2012) | |||||||||||||||
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Düsseldorf Airport (Template:Lang-de; until March 2013 Düsseldorf International Airport; IATA: DUS, ICAO: EDDL) is the largest airport in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, and the third largest airport in Germany,[2] handling 20.8 million passengers in 2012. It is located in Düsseldorf, the state capital of North Rhine-Westphalia, approximately 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) north of downtown Düsseldorf, and some 20 kilometres (12 mi) south-west of Essen.
The airport serves as an airline hub for Air Berlin and Lufthansa including Lufthansa Regional, the airport's largest and second-largest airlines – both offering about 300 daily flights to 53 destinations. Turkish Airlines is the largest foreign airline to operate from Düsseldorf.[4] The airport handles on average 750 takeoffs and landings per day with a total of 70 airlines offering flights to 186 non-stop-destinations.
The airport
Düsseldorf Airport is the largest and primary airport for the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region — the largest metropolitan region in Germany and among the largest metropolitan areas of the world.[5] The airport is located in Düsseldorf-Lohausen. The largest nearby business centres are Düsseldorf and Essen; other cities within a 20-kilometre (12 mi) radius are Duisburg, Krefeld, Mülheim an der Ruhr, Neuss, and Wuppertal. The airport extends over a compact 6.13 square kilometres (2.37 sq mi) of land – small in comparison to airports of a similar capacity – but also reason for Düsseldorf being known as an airport of short distances. The airport is the workplace for more than 18,200 employees.
With 18.99 million passengers passing through in 2010,[2] the airport was the third busiest in Germany, after Frankfurt Airport and Munich Airport, and was the 20th busiest airport in Europe. Transfer passengers and those travelling on long-haul flights from the airport accounted for around 13% of all passengers in 2010.[2] Düsseldorf has two runways, which are 3,000 metres (9,843 ft) and 2,700 metres (8,858 ft) long. There are plans to extend the 3,000 metres (9,843 ft) runway to 3,600 metres (11,811 ft), but the town of Ratingen has been blocking the expansion, as it lies within the approach path of the runway.
107 aircraft parking positions are available. The current terminal building is capable of handling up to 22 million passengers per year. However, due to an agreement with residents in nearby Ratingen (the so-called Angerlandvergleich), this capacity may not be reached within the next few years, as aircraft movements are restricted. Düsseldorf Airport is able to handle the new Airbus A380 aircraft. On 12 November 2006, the first A380 landed in Düsseldorf as part of a Lufthansa promotion flight.
Terminals
Düsseldorf Airport has three terminals connected by a central spine, even though the terminals are essentially concourses within a single terminal building.
Terminal A
Terminal A was opened in 1977 and has 16 gates (A01–A16) used by Lufthansa and Lufthansa Regional, its airline partners (Cirrus Airlines) and Star Alliance members (Aegean Airlines, Air China, Austrian Airlines, Croatia Airlines, LOT Polish Airlines, Scandinavian Airlines, EgyptAir, TAP Portugal, and Swiss International Airlines). Terminal A houses a Lufthansa Business Lounge and a Lufthansa Senator Lounge. It was refurbished fundamentally for two years after a 1996 fire.
Terminal B
Terminal B was opened in 1973 and has 11 gates (B01–B11) used mainly for domestic and EU-flights by Air Berlin and SkyTeam and Oneworld members (British Airways, KLM, Finnair, Iberia, Air France, and Czech Airlines). Also located within the terminal are charter carriers such as TUIfly and Condor. Terminal B houses an observation deck and airline lounges by Air France and British Airways. After the fire in 1996 the whole terminal building was torn down and reconstructed. It was reopened in 2001.
Terminal C
Terminal C was opened in 1986 and has 8 gates (C01–C08) used exclusively for non-Schengen-flights by non-Star Alliance airlines. These are long-haul flights – among others – by Air Berlin, Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, Emirates, Etihad Airlines, Mahan Air, and Turkish Airlines. Terminal C has a direct access to Airport City's Maritim Hotel and houses lounges by Air Berlin and Emirates. Terminal C was the least affected Terminal after the fire in 1996. It was still reopened in 1996 after intensive maintenance works. Thus it was the only usable Terminal at Düsseldorf Airport for a couple of years.
Executive Terminal
Jet Aviation operates a small terminal solely for private and corporate customers.
Airport City
Since 2003, an area of 23 hectares (57 acres) south-west of the airport terminal has been under redevelopment as Düsseldorf Airport City with an anticipated gross floor area of 250,000 square metres (2,700,000 sq ft) to be completed by 2016. Already based at Düsseldorf Airport City are corporate offices of Siemens and VDI, a large Porsche centre and showroom, a Maritim Hotel[6] and Congress Centre, a Sheraton Hotel and a cinema. Messe Düsseldorf is situated in close proximity to Düsseldorf Airport City (some 500 m or 1,600 ft).
Ownership
Düsseldorf International is a public–private partnership with the following owners:
- 50% Landeshauptstadt (state capital) Düsseldorf
- 50% Airport Partners GmbH (Ownership of Airport Partners GmbH: 40% Hochtief AirPort GmbH, 20% Hochtief AirPort Capital KGaA, 40% Dublin Airport Authority plc (through its wholly owned subsidiary Aer Rianta International cpt))
History
The first aviation event in the area was the landing of Zeppelin LZ3 on 19 September 1909 about 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) south of the present airport. The present airport was opened on 19 April 1927, after two years of construction. Deutsche Luft Hansa opened routes to Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne and Geneva. With the start of the Second World War civil use of the airport ceased in September 1939 with the airfield being used by the military.
At the end of the war the airport reopened for civil use in 1948. With the area being under British administration the first flights were operated by British European Airways to London Northolt. In 1950 the main runway was extended to 2475 metres.
In 1964 planning began for the construction of a new terminal, with capacity for 1.4 million passengers, and in 1969 the main runway was lengthened to 3000 metres.
In 1973 the new central building and the Terminal B were opened and in 1975 the railroad connection between Düsseldorf central station and the airport started operation. Terminal A was opened in 1977.
In 1986 Terminal C was opened and 8.22 million passengers used the airport – making it number two in Germany. By 1992 when a second runway was built 12.3 million passengers were using the airport.
The Düsseldorf Airport fire which has been the worst structural airport fire worldwide yet was caused by welding work on an elevated road in front of Terminal A above its arrivals area and insufficient structural fire protection. It broke out on 11 April 1996 and destroyed several parts of the passenger areas of the airport. Damage to the airport was estimated to be in the hundreds of millions, Terminals A and B had to be completely reconstructed. 17 people died, mostly due to smoke inhalation, with many more hospitalised. At the time, the fire was the biggest public disaster in the history of North Rhine-Westphalia.
While repairs were ongoing, passengers were housed in big tents. In November Terminal C was completely redeveloped, with three lightweight construction halls serving as departure areas. Also in 1997 construction began on the new inter-city railway station at the eastern edge of the airport. In 1998 the rebuilt Terminal A was reopened and the airport changed its name from "Rhine Ruhr Airport" to "Düsseldorf International". Reconstruction of the central building and Terminal B began.
The first stage in the "Airport 2000+" programme commenced in 1999 with the laying of a foundation stone for an underground parking garage under the new terminal.
The new Düsseldorf Airport station was opened in May 2000, with the capacity of 300 train departures daily. Sixteen million passengers used the airport that year; Düsseldorf is now the third biggest airport in Germany. The new departures hall and Terminal B were opened in July 2001 after 2½ years of construction time; the rebuilt Gebäude Ost was reopened.
In 2002 the inter-terminal shuttle bus service was replaced by the suspended monorail called the SkyTrain connecting the terminal building with the InterCity train station. The monorail travels the 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) between the terminal and station at a maximum speed of 50 kilometres per hour (31 mph). The system was developed by Siemens and is based on the similar H-Bahn operating with two lines on Dortmund university campus.
In March 2013 the Airport received a new corporate design and dropped the phrase International from its official name.[7]
Airlines and destinations
Passenger
Cargo
Airlines | Destinations |
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Emirates SkyCargo | Dubai-International, Dubai-World Central (begins 1 May 2014) |
Swiss WorldCargo | Zurich |
Volga Dnepr | Ashgabat |
Operations and statistics
Passenger numbers
Number of Passengers[15] | Number of Movements[16] | Freight (Tonnes) | ||
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2000 | 16,03 million | 194,016 | 59,361 | |
2001 | 15,40 million | 193,514 | 51,441 | |
2002 | 14,75 million | 190,300 | 46,085 | |
2003 | 14,30 million | 186,159 | 48,419 | |
2004 | 15,26 million | 200,584 | 86,267 | |
2005 | 15,51 million | 200,619 | 88,058 | |
2006 | 16,59 million | 215,481 | 97,000 | |
2007 | 17,83 million | 227,899 | 89,281 | |
2008 | 18,15 million | 228,531 | 90,100 | |
2009 | 17,79 million | 214,024 | 76,916 | |
2010 | 18,98 million | 215,540 | 87,995 | |
2011 | 20,39 million | 221,668 | 81,521 | |
2012 | 20,80 million | 210,298 | 86,820 | |
Source: ADV German Airports Association[17] |
Busiest routes
Rank | City | Passengers | Top Carriers |
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1 | Munich, Germany | 1,551,503 | Air Berlin, Lufthansa |
2 | Berlin-Tegel | 1,012,231 | Air Berlin, Eurowings, Lufthansa, Lufthansa CityLine |
3 | Palma de Mallorca, Spain | 984,987 | Air Berlin, Condor, Lufthansa, TUIfly |
4 | Antalya, Turkey | 855,818 | Air Berlin, Condor, Germania, German Sky Airlines, Lufthansa, Pegasus Airlines, Sky Airlines, SunExpress, TUIfly, XL Airways Germany |
5 | London (all), United Kingdom | 852,981 | Air Berlin, British Airways, EasyJet, Lufthansa |
Ground transportation
Düsseldorf Airport rail services | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The airport is accessible via an extensive ground transportation infrastructure, including its own motorway-section – part of the Bundesautobahn 44 (which connects to Bundesautobahn 52, 57 and 3) – and two railway stations – one of which for high-speed, long-distance trains. Düsseldorf SkyTrain operates as an inter-terminal people-mover within the airport. The Long distance station is located 2.5 kilometres from the terminal and is serviced by all categories of German rail types, including ICE trains. A fully automatic, suspended monorail called SkyTrain connects the long distance station to the park houses and terminals. this service also connects the terminal to the outer-lying parking garages.
The airport also has its own S-Bahn station, Düsseldorf Airport Terminal station located below the terminal. It is serviced by the S11, which has its northern terminus there.
Other facilities
When LTU International existed, its head office was in Halle 8 at Düsseldorf International Airport.[18] The corporate head office Blue Wings was located at the airport. Before closure it was in Terminal A.[19][20] Previously it was in Hangar 8 at the same airport.[21]
See also
- Cologne Bonn Airport, an airport 45 km (28 mi) south from Düsseldorf, between the cities of Cologne and Bonn
- Dortmund Airport, an airport 50 km (31 mi) north-east from Düsseldorf, near the city of Dortmund
- List of the busiest airports in Europe, based on annual passenger traffic
- Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn, commuter rail service within the Rhine-Ruhr region
- Weeze Airport, an airport 80 km (50 mi) north-west from Düsseldorf, that is advertised by budget airlines as "Airport Düsseldorf Weeze", or "Airport Düsseldorf Niederrhein". A German court ruled the naming the airport after Düsseldorf would be misleading to passengers, however some budget airlines still use that name in advertisements outside of Germany.
References
- ^ "Our hubs in Frankfurt, Munich, Dusseldorf and Zurich". Lufthansa. 16 February 2007. Retrieved 6 June 2012.
- ^ a b c d ADV passenger statistics and aircraft movements[dead link ]
- ^ "EAD Basic". Euro Control. Retrieved 6 June 2012.
- ^ "Facts and Figures, 2009". Düsseldorf International Airport. Retrieved 7 January 2011.
- ^ "Geo". World Gazetteer. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
- ^ Hotel Düsseldorf. "Maritim Hotel Düsseldorf". Maritim.com. Retrieved 2012-06-06.
- ^ "Willkommen bei der Landeshauptstadt Düsseldorf". Duesseldorf. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
- ^ http://airlineroute.net/2013/09/24/a3-s14update1/
- ^ a b http://www.businesstraveller.com/news/ba-to-launch-new-london-city-routes
- ^ http://www.ch-aviation.ch/portal/news/22714-condor-to-move-its-charter-flights-to-dubai-world-central
- ^ http://www.kr-karlovarsky.cz/krajske_listy/Stranky/130923-lety-Dusseldorf.aspx#.UpepPCfyA78
- ^ a b c d e f https://www.lufthansa.com/mediapool/jpg/03/media_1336754003.jpg?WT.mc_id=NLemail_lhcom_DE_de_KW48&no-mobile-redirect=Y&WT.mc_id=DE_de_NLemail
- ^ http://www.airliners.de/germanwings-mit-neuer-italienroute-ab-berlin-und-duesseldorf/30872
- ^ http://airlineroute.net/2013/10/03/x3-germany-s14/
- ^ Number of Passengers including both domestic and international.
- ^ Number of Movements represents total commercial air transport takeoffs and landings during that year.
- ^ "German Airport Statistics".
- ^ "Kontakt." LTU International. Retrieved 21 June 2009. "LTU International Airways Flughafen Düsseldorf, Halle 8 D40474 Düsseldorf"
- ^ "Contact." Blue Wings. 12 June 2005. Retrieved 30 December 2012. "Blue Wings AG Duesseldorf Airport Terminal A 5. OG 40474 Duesseldorf, Germany"
- ^ "Welcome to Blue Wings." Blue Wings. 27 March 2009. Retrieved on 30 December 2012. "Blue Wings AG . Düsseldorf Airport . Terminal A . D-40474 Düsseldorf . Germany"
- ^ "Blue Wings AG." Blue Wings. 23 March 2003. Retrieved 30 December 2012. "Airport Düsseldorf Hangar 8 40474 Düsseldorf"
External links
Media related to Düsseldorf International Airport at Wikimedia Commons
- Airports established in 1927
- Düsseldorf International Airport
- Airports in Germany
- Buildings and structures in Düsseldorf
- Buildings and structures in North Rhine-Westphalia
- Düsseldorf
- Transport in Düsseldorf
- Transport in North Rhine-Westphalia
- Economy of North Rhine-Westphalia
- SIPEM people movers
- Suspended monorails
- Airport people mover systems
- People mover systems in Germany