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. During the 2000-15 period this was one of several German airports expanding rapidly, however the airport handled only 1,23 Mio. passengers in 2019, reflecting a decline in throughput triggered by Ryanair reducing its route network.[1]

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.de
Map
NRN
NRN
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
09/27 2,440 8,005 Concrete/Asphalt
Statistics (2019)
Passengers1,230,000[1]
Source:German AIP at EUROCONTROL[2]

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.[3] 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 city of Duisburg, 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.[4] In February 2014, Ryanair announced the cancellation of 18 routes from Weeze for the 2014 summer season citing a lack of aircraft.[5]

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.[6]

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 charter flights at Weeze Airport:[7]

AirlinesDestinations
Corendon Airlines Hurghada
Seasonal: Antalya, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Heraklion (begins 3 May 2021),[8] Rhodes (begins 4 June 2021)[8]
Ryanair Faro, Fez, Kiev-Boryspil, Málaga, Nador, Oradea (begins 22 February 2021),[9] Palma de Mallorca, Rabat, Tallinn (resumes 30 March 2021),[7] Thessaloniki, Valencia
Seasonal: Agadir, Alicante, Ancona, Bari, Béziers, Cagliari, Chania, Edinburgh, Fuerteventura, Girona, Ibiza, Marrakesh, Oujda, Palermo, Pescara, Pisa (begins 28 March 2021),[7] Porto, Rome-Ciampino (begins 30 March 2021),[7] Tangier, Zadar

Statistics
Check-in area
Apron view
Passengers
2008 1,523,990
2009 2,402,083
2010 2,896,730
2011 2,421,108
2012 2,208,429
2013 2,487,843
2014 1,807,543
2015 1,909,704
2016 1,854,108[10]
2017 1,885,811[11]
2019 1,231,100[1]
Source: ADV[12]

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, 's-Hertogenbosch, and Utrecht.[13]

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. rp-online.de (German) 9 January 2020
  2. "EAD Basic – Error Page". Retrieved 10 May 2015.
  3. GmbH, FVW Medien. "Flughafen Weeze darf nicht Düsseldorf heißen". Retrieved 5 August 2016.
  4. rp-online.de - "10 years ago: V Bird gives wings to the airport" (German) 15 November 2013
  5. "Ryanair streicht Angebot in Weeze kräftig zusammen". airliners.de. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
  6. aerotelegraph.com (German) 15 November 2019
  7. "Bestemmingen". airport-weeze.com.
  8. "Flight ticket". corendonairlines.com.
  9. https://boardingpass.ro/ryanair-revine-la-oradea-si-anunta-patru-rute-noi-cu-debut-in-decembrie-2020/
  10. Klatt, Michael. "Goch/Weeze: Airport Weeze 2016 mit Rekordgewinn". RP ONLINE.
  11. "ADV Monthly Traffic Report" (PDF). Retrieved 20 February 2018.
  12. "German Airport Statistics (German)". Archived from the original on 24 January 2016.
  13. redactie, Onze (9 May 2007). "AirExpressBus opent busverbinding van Amsterdam naar Airport Weeze". Luchtvaartnieuws (in Dutch). Retrieved 11 October 2017.

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