Weeze Airport

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 used by Ryanair. The airport is situated 3.7 km (2.3 mi) southwest[2] of the municipality of Weeze (German pronunciation: [ˈveːt͡sə]) 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. Between 2008 and 2013, this was one of Germany's fastest-growing airports; however, the airport handled only 1.23 million passengers in 2019, reflecting a decline in throughput triggered by Ryanair reducing its route network.[3]

Weeze Airport

Flughafen Weeze/Niederrhein
Summary
Airport typePublic
OperatorFlughafen Niederrhein GmbH
ServesKreis Kleve and Nijmegen
LocationWeeze
Focus city forRyanair
Elevation AMSL106 ft / 32 m
Coordinates51°36′09″N 006°08′32″E
Websiteairport-weeze.com
Map
NRN is located in North Rhine-Westphalia
NRN
NRN
NRN is located in Germany
NRN
NRN
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
09/27 2,440 8,005 Concrete/Asphalt
Statistics (2022)
Passengers1,036,882 Increase+76,5%
Aircraft movements0,015,533 Increase+68,6%
Cargo (metric tons)0,000,000 Steady+00,0%
Sources: Statistics at ADV[1]
AIP at German air traffic control.[2]</ref>

History

The airport uses the facilities of the former military airbase RAF Laarbruch, and began operating as a civil airport in 2003. There is also a large fire department training facility on the airport grounds. Its IATA code is NRN because of its official name Flughafen Niederrhein. The airport has had several different names in its history as a civil airport. The operators originally wanted to name it after the city of Düsseldorf, but the significant distance of 83 km (52 mi) to that city, which already had two closer international airports (Düsseldorf Airport as well as Cologne Bonn Airport), resulted in the name being blocked by a court ruling that such a description would be likely to mislead passengers.[4] However, Ryanair still refers to it as "Düsseldorf-Weeze". The airport is actually closer to the Dutch cities of Venlo, Nijmegen and Arnhem, the German cities of Duisburg and Essen, and the immediate Weeze area than Düsseldorf.

Weeze was served by the short-lived, Dutch low-cost carrier V Bird, which opened a base here and operated flights to Berlin, Munich and several international destinations, from its inception in 2003 until bankruptcy in 2004. During this time, passenger numbers doubled from 200,000 to 400,000 within a year.[5] In February 2014, Ryanair announced the cancellation of 18 routes from Weeze for the 2014 summer season citing a lack of aircraft.[6]

In 2019, the airport faced severe financial difficulties due to a fall in passenger numbers by 30 percent over the previous year as a result of the cancellation of several Ryanair routes.[7]

Facilities

Weeze Airport has one passenger terminal building with restaurants, shops, and check-in facilities. The apron, which is 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 due to the location of the apron to the west side of the terminal building instead in front of it, bus-boarding is used for six stands. Only three stands are close enough to the terminal to be accessed on foot.

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and seasonal flights at Weeze Airport:[8]

AirlinesDestinations
Air Arabia Maroc Fès
Freebird Airlines Seasonal charter: Antalya,[9] Bodrum[9]
Ryanair Agadir, Alicante, Asturias,[10] Bari, Castellón, Edinburgh, Essaouira (begins 1 November 2023),[11] Faro, Fès, Fuerteventura, Girona, Málaga, Marrakesh, Nador, Oujda, Palma de Mallorca, Rabat, Seville, Tangier, Thessaloniki, Tirana (begins 1 November 2023),[12] Zagreb
Seasonal: Ancona, Bergamo, Béziers, Cagliari, Chania, Copenhagen, Corfu, Ibiza, Lanzarote, Pescara, Porto, Pula, Reus, Rhodes, Tenerife–South, Trapani, Zadar
Sky Express Seasonal charter: Heraklion,[13] Kos,[13] Rhodes,[13] Zakynthos[13]
Tailwind Airlines Seasonal charter: Antalya[9]

Statistics
Direct flight destinations from Weeze Airport (October 2023)[14][15]
Check-in area
Apron view
Annual passenger traffic at NRN airport. See Wikidata query.
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 Decrease 1,807,543
2015 Increase 1,909,704
2016 Decrease 1,854,108[16]
2017 Increase 1,885,811[17]
2018 Decrease 1,700,711
2019 Decrease 1,231,100[3]
2020 Decrease 299,711
2021 Increase 587,478
2022 Increase 1,030,000[18]
Source: ADV[19]

Ground transportation

Coach

Direct buses serve Düsseldorf Main Station up to 7 times a day; the journey taking 1h 15min. Airexpressbus offered from June 2007 until spring 2017 a service between Weeze Airport and Amsterdam with stops at Eindhoven Airport, Utrecht and 's-Hertogenbosch.[20]

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 a bus or taxi to either Weeze or Kevelaer railway stations.

See also

References
  1. "ADV Monthly Traffic Report 12/2022" (PDF; 919 KB). adv.aero (in German). Arbeitsgemeinschaft Deutscher Verkehrsflughäfen e.V. 13 February 2023. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
  2. "AIP VFR online". dfs.de. DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung GmbH. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
  3. rp-online.de (in German) 9 January 2020.
  4. GmbH, FVW Medien. "Flughafen Weeze darf nicht Düsseldorf heißen". Retrieved 5 August 2016.
  5. rp-online.de - "10 years ago: V Bird gives wings to the airport" (in German) 15 November 2013.
  6. "Ryanair streicht Angebot in Weeze kräftig zusammen". airliners.de. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
  7. aerotelegraph.com (in German) 15 November 2019.
  8. "Flight schedule". airport-weeze.com. 1 November 2021.
  9. "Summer flightplan 2023 - Weeze Airport" (PDF).
  10. "Asturias tendrá dos rutas internacionales más de las previstas (Y los billetes baratos ya están a la venta)". 22 June 2022.
  11. https://aviation.direct/winter-2023-24-ryanair-legt-wieder-marokko-fluege-ab-wien-auf
  12. "Ryanair sbarca in Albania. Attacco frontale a Wizz Air". 8 June 2023.
  13. "Sunweb: nu ook vakantievluchten vanaf Weeze en uitbreiding op Brussels Airport". luchtvaartnieuws.nl. 14 December 2022.
  14. "Direct flights from Düsseldorf (Weeze) (NRN)". FlightConnections. 23 May 2023.
  15. "Our destinations". Weeze Airport. 23 May 2023.
  16. Klatt, Michael (17 January 2017). "Goch/Weeze: Airport Weeze 2016 mit Rekordgewinn". RP ONLINE.
  17. "ADV Monthly Traffic Report" (PDF). Retrieved 20 February 2018.
  18. lokalklick.eu (in German) 22 December 2022.
  19. "German Airport Statistics" (in German).
  20. redactie, Onze (9 May 2007). "AirExpressBus opent busverbinding van Amsterdam naar Airport Weeze". Luchtvaartnieuws (in Dutch). Retrieved 11 October 2017.

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