Düsseldorf International Airport

Düsseldorf International Airport, Flughafen Düsseldorf International, is the third largest airport in Germany, located in Düsseldorf, the state capital of North Rhine-Westphalia.

The airport

terminal building

With 18.98 million passengers passing through in 2010, only Frankfurt Airport and Munich Airport served more passengers in Germany. The airport serves as an important hub for Air Berlin and Lufthansa, which offer about 300 flights to 53 destinations per day. In May 2008, Lufthansa re-launched long-haul operations from the airport. The airport's 70 hosted airlines support flights to 186 non-stop-destinations. The airport has up to 750 takeoffs and landings per day.

Düsseldorf International Airport is located about 9 km (5.6 mi) from the centre of Düsseldorf, Germany, and is the primary airport for the Rhine-Ruhr region—the largest urban area in Germany and among the largest metropolitan areas of the world.

Düsseldorf International has two runways, which are 3,000 m and 2,700 m long. There are plans to extend the 3,000 m runway to 3,600 m, but the city of Ratingen, which lies in the approach path of the runway, is blocking them.

107 airplane 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 International Airport is able to handle the new superjumbo Airbus A380 aircraft. On 12 November 2006, the first A380 landed in Düsseldorf as part of a Lufthansa promotion flight. Lufthansa is planning to use Düsseldorf International as the diversion airport for A380 in case of bad weather in Frankfurt.

Owners of the airport are:

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 km (2 miles) south of the present airport. The present airport was opened on 19 April 1927, after two years of construction. Deutsche Lufthansa 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 is extended to 2475 metres.

In 1964 planning begins for the construction of a new terminal, with the capacity for 1.4 million passengers and in 1969 the main runway is lengthened to 3000 metres.

In 1973 the new central building and the Terminal B are opened and in 1975 the railroad connection between the Düsseldorf central station and the airport starts operation. Terminal A was opened in 1977.

In 1986 Terminal C was opened and 8.22 million passengers use the airport - making it number two in Germany. By 1992 when a second runway is built 12.3 million passengers use the airport.

inside the airport terminal, 2005

Fire breaks out on the roof of the terminal A on 11 April 1996, caused by welding work and insufficient structural fire protection and 17 people die, mostly due to smoke inhalation, with many more hospitalised. Damage to the airport is estimated to be in the hundreds of millions. At the time, the fire is the biggest public disaster in the history of North Rhine-Westphalia. While repairs are ongoing, passengers are being housed in big tents. In November Terminal C is completely redeveloped, with three lightweight construction halls serving as departure areas.

Also in 1997 construction begins on the new inter-city railway station at the eastern edge of the airport. In 1998 the rebuilt Terminal A is reopened and the airport changes its name from "Rhine Ruhr airport" to "Düsseldorf International". Reconstruction of the central building and Terminal B begins.

The first stage in the "Airport 2000+" programme commences in 1999 with the laying of a foundation stone for a underground parking garage under the new terminal.

The new Düsseldorf Airport railway station is opened in May 2000, with the capacity of 300 train departures daily. 16 million passengers use the airport that year; Düsseldorf is now the third biggest airport in Germany. The new departures hall and Terminal B are opened in July 2001 after 2½ years of construction time; the rebuilt Gebäude Ost is 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 between the terminal and station at a maximum speed of 50 km/h. The system was developed by Siemens and is based on the similar H-Bahn operating with two lines on Dortmund university campus.

Terminals, airlines and destinations

Airlines Destinations Terminal

Adria Airways Pristina A

Aegean Airlines Athens, Thessaloniki B

Aer Lingus Dublin C

Aeroflot Moscow-Sheremetyevo C

Aerosvit Airlines Seasonal: Kiev-Boryspil C

Afriqiyah Airways Tripoli C

Air Berlin Alicante, Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi, Barcelona, Berlin-Tegel, Bilbao, Cancun, Catania, Copenhagen, Djerba [ends 26 April], Dresden, Erbil [ends 2 April], Faro, Fort Myers, Fuerteventura, Funchal, Hamburg, Helsinki, Hurghada, Ibiza, Klagenfurt, Lanzarote, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, London-Stansted, Luxor, Málaga, Malé, Marsa Alam, Miami, Milan-Malpensa, Monastir [ends 29 April], Montego Bay, Moscow-Domodedovo, Munich, Nice, Naples [begins 2 April], Nuremberg, Olbia, Palma de Mallorca, Paris-Orly [ends 25 March], Pristina, Puerto Plata, Punta Cana, Rome-Fiumicino, Salzburg, Santa Cruz de la Palma, Sharm el-Sheikh, St Petersburg, Stuttgart, Sulaymaniyah [ends 29 March], Tel Aviv, Tenerife-North [ends 24 April], Tenerife-South, Varadero, Venice-Marco Polo, Verona [begins 17 April], Vienna, Westerland/Sylt, Zürich

Seasonal: Antalya, Bari [ends 26 March], Bergen, Bodrum, Corfu, Guernsey [begins 21 May], Heraklion, Heringsdorf, Innsbruck, Jerez de la Frontera, Jersey, Karpathos, Kavala, Kos, Lamezia Terme, Los Angeles, Minorca, Mombasa, Mytilene, New York-JFK, Ponta Delgada, Preveza, Reykjavik-Kevlavik, Rhodes, Samos, San Francisco, Skiathos, Thessaloniki, Vancouver, Zakynthos B/C

Air China Beijing-Capital [begins 29 March] B

Air France Paris-Charles de Gaulle B

Air France operated by Brit Air Lyon, Toulouse B

Air France operated by Régional Nantes [begins 27 March], Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Toulouse B

Air Malta Malta B

Air Via Seasonal: Burgas, Varna C

airBaltic Riga B

Anadolujet Ankara C

Austrian Airlines Vienna A

Austrian operated by Tyrolean Airways Graz, Linz, Salzburg [ends 7 January]

Seasonal: Vienna A

Belle Air Pristina C

Bestair Ankara, Antalya C

British Airways London-Heathrow B

British Airways operated by Sun Air of Scandinavia Billund B

Bulgarian Air Charter Seasonal: Burgas, Varna C

Carpatair Timisoara C

Condor Flugdienst Dubai, Fuerteventura, Hurghada, Jerez de la Frontera, Lanzarote, Larnaca, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Santa Cruz de la Palma, Sharm el-Sheikh, Tenerife-South

Seasonal: Agadir, Chania, Corfu, Dalaman, Djerba, Heraklion, Ibiza, Kos, Malta [begins 1 May], Rhodes, Santorini B / C

Croatia Airlines Seasonal: Dubrovnik, Split A

Czech Airlines Prague B

Delta Air Lines Atlanta C

EasyJet London-Gatwick, Rome-Fiumicino B

EasyJet Switzerland Basel/Mulhouse B

EgyptAir Cairo A

Emirates Dubai C

Finnair Helsinki B

Flybe Birmingham, Exeter [begins 23 April], London-Gatwick, Manchester, Southampton C

Free Bird Airlines Istanbul-Atatürk C

Germania Adana, Ankara, Beirut, Damascus, Gaziantep, Kayseri, Pristina, Samsun, Trabzon, Zonguldak C

German Sky Airlines Antalya, Hurghada C

Iberia Airlines Madrid B

InterSky Friedrichshafen B

Jat Airways Belgrade C

Jet2.com Leeds/Bradford, Edinburgh C

KLM operated by KLM Cityhopper Amsterdam B

LOT Polish Airlines Warsaw A

Lufthansa Berlin-Tegel, Chicago-O'Hare, Dresden, Frankfurt, Hamburg, İstanbul-Atatürk, London-Heathrow, Milan-Malpensa, Moscow-Domodedovo, Munich, Newark, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Rome-Fiumicino, St Petersburg, Vienna

Seasonal: Jersey, Miami, Nice, Palma de Mallorca, Reykjavik-Keflavik, Toronto-Pearson A

Lufthansa Regional operated by Contact Air Birmingham, Dresden, Hamburg [begins 2 April], Paris-Charles de Gaulle A

Lufthansa Regional operated by Eurowings Athens, Barcelona, Basel/Mulhouse, Berlin-Tegel, Bilbao, Birmingham, Bucharest-Otopeni, Budapest, Dresden, Gdańsk, Geneva, Gothenburg-Landvetter, Katowice, Leipzig/Halle, Lisbon, Lyon, Madrid, Manchester, Milan-Malpensa, Newcastle upon Tyne, Nuremberg, Oslo-Gardermoen, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Prague, Sofia, Stockholm-Arlanda, Stuttgart, Turin, Valencia, Venice-Marco Polo, Vienna, Warsaw, Wroclaw, Zürich

Seasonal: Dubrovnik, Olbia, Reykjavik-Keflavik A

Lufthansa Regional operated by Lufthansa CityLine Berlin-Tegel, Edinburgh, Kiev-Boryspil, Madrid, Milan-Malpensa, Oslo-Gardermoen, Prague, St Petersburg, Venice-Marco Polo, Warsaw

Seasonal: Inverness, Newquay A

Mahan Air Tehran-Imam Khomeini C

MAT Airways Skopje C

Norwegian Air Shuttle Oslo-Gardermoen B

Nouvelair Monastir C

Orenair Seasonal: Barnaul [begins 6 June], Chelyabinsk, Omsk, Orenburg C

Ostfriesische Lufttransport Seasonal: Heringsdorf B

Pegasus Airlines Ankara, Antalya, Istanbul-Sabiha Gökçen, Kayseri C

Pegasus Airlines operated by IZair Izmir C

Rossiya St Petersburg C

S7 Airlines Moscow-Domodedovo C

Scandinavian Airlines Copenhagen, Stockholm-Arlanda, Oslo-Gardermoen A

Sky Airlines Antalya C

Sun d'Or International Airlines Tel Aviv C

SunExpress Adana, Ankara, Antalya, Istanbul-Sabiha Gökcen, Izmir

Seasonal: Bodrum, Elazig C

Swiss International Air Lines Zürich A

Swiss operated by Swiss European Air Lines Zürich A

TAP Portugal Lisbon [begins 27 March] A

TUIfly Agadir, Enfidha [begins 6 May], Fuerteventura, Hurghada, Lanzarote, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Monastir, Palma de Mallorca, Sharm el-Sheikh, Tenerife-South

Seasonal: Antalya, Corfu, Dalaman, Faro, Heraklion, Jerez de la Frontera, Kos, Minorca, Patras/Araxos, Rhodes B/C

Tunisair Djerba, Enfidha [begins 2 April], Monastir, Tunis C

Turkish Airlines Istanbul-Atatürk

Seasonal: Adana, Antalya, Izmir, Kayseri, Samsun, Trabzon C

Turkish operated by Anadolujet Ankara C

XL Airways Germany Pristina, Skopje

Seasonal: Antalya, Burgas, Corfu, Djerba, Heraklion, Gaziantep, Monastir, Rhodes B/C

Cargo airlines

Airlines Destinations

Atlas Air Dubai

Emirates SkyCargo Dubai

FedEx Feeder operated by Air Contractors Dublin

Lufthansa Cargo Sharjah operated by Kalitta Air and Southern Air

Operations and statistics

Passenger numbers

Number of Passengers  Number of Movements  Freight

(Tonnes)

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

Source: ADV German Airports Association

Busiests routs

Busiest Domestic and International Routes from Düsseldorf (2009)

Rank City Passengers Top Carriers

1 Munich, Germany 1,480,090 Air Berlin, Lufthansa

2 Berlin, Germany 905,785 Air Berlin, Eurowings, Lufthansa, Lufthansa CityLine

3 Palma de Mallorca, Spain 809,984 Air Berlin, Lufthansa, TUIfly

4 London-Heathrow, United Kingdom 723,333 British Airways, Lufthansa

5 Zürich, Switzerland 665,474 Air Berlin, Lufthansa, Swiss International Air Lines,

Ground transportation

Düsseldorf Airport S-Bahn service
Duisburg Hbf Duisburg-Rahm Düsseldorf-Angermund Düsseldorf Airport SkyTrain Parkhaus 4 SkyTrain Terminal A/B SkyTrain Terminal C Düsseldorf Airport Terminal C Düsseldorf-Unterrath Düsseldorf-Derendorf Düsseldorf Zoo Düsseldorf-Wehrhahn Düsseldorf Hbf

Monorail "Sky Train"

Düsseldorf Airport station (Bahnhof Düsseldorf Flughafen)

The airport is connected to the Autobahn via the A44. Two railway stations serve the airport. The Long distance station is located 2.5 km from the terminal and is serviced by all categories of German rail types, including ICE trains. The long distance station is connected to the terminal via a suspended monorail called SkyTrain. this service also connects the terminal to the outerlieing 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.

Preceding station Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn Following station

Terminus S11

Düsseldorf-Unterrath

toward Bergisch Gladbach

Airport magazine

Das Magazin is a magazine available for visitors and passengers travelling through Düsseldorf airport. It contains information about new airlines serving Düsseldorf, new destinations and routes, and other information about the airport itself and surrounding facilities. Das Magazin is available at many shops and newsstands at the airport for free or via a paid subscription.

Airport Weeze, an airport 80 km (50 mi) away from Düsseldorf, that is advertised by budget airlines as "Airport Düsseldorf Weeze", or "Airport Düsseldorf Niederrhein". A German court decided that naming the airport after Düsseldorf would be misleading to passengers, however some budget airlines still use that name in advertisements outside of Germany.