Weeze Airport

For the previous military use of this facility, see RAF Laarbruch.

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
IATA: NRN ICAO: EDLV
Summary
Airport type	Public
Operator	Flughafen Niederrhein GmbH
Serves	Kreis Kleve and Nijmegen
Location	Weeze, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Opened	May 2003; 20 years ago (2003-05)
Operating base for	Ryanair
Elevation AMSL	106 ft / 32 m
Coordinates	51°36′09″N 006°08′32″E / 51.60250°N 6.14222°E / 51.60250; 6.14222 (Weeze Airport)
Website	airport-weeze.com
Map
NRN Show map of North Rhine-Westphalia NRN Show map of Germany
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 09/27 2,440 8,005 Concrete/Asphalt
Statistics (2022)
Passengers 1,036,882 +76,5% Aircraft movements 0,015,533 +68,6% Cargo (metric tons) 0,000,000 +00,0%
Sources: Statistics at ADV^[1] AIP at German air traffic control.^[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.^[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]

Airlines	Destinations
Air Arabia	Fès
Ryanair	Agadir, Alicante, Asturias,^[9] Bari, Castellón, Copenhagen, Edinburgh, Essaouira,^[10] Faro, Fès, Fuerteventura, Girona, Málaga, Marrakesh, Nador, Oujda, Palma de Mallorca, Rabat, Seville, Tangier, Tenerife–South, Thessaloniki, Tirana,^[11] Zagreb Seasonal: Ancona, Bergamo, Béziers, Cagliari, Chania, Corfu, Dubrovnik,^[12] Ibiza, Kos (begins 5 June 2024),^[13] Lanzarote, Pescara, Porto, Pula, Reus, Rhodes, Trapani, Zadar
Sky Express	Seasonal charter: Heraklion,^[14] Kos,^[14] Zakynthos^[14]

Statistics

 

Direct flight destinations from Weeze Airport (February 2024)^[15][16]

 

Check-in area

 

Apron view

Annual passenger traffic at NRN airport. See Wikidata query.

	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^[17]
2017	1,885,811^[18]
2018	1,700,711
2019	1,231,100^[3]
2020	299,711
2021	587,478
2022	1,030,000^[19]
^Source: ADV^[20]

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.^[21]

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

• Transport in Germany
• List of airports in Germany

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. "Asturias tendrá dos rutas internacionales más de las previstas (Y los billetes baratos ya están a la venta)". 22 June 2022.
10. "Winter 2023/24: Ryanair legt wieder Marokko-Flüge ab Wien auf". 24 August 2023.
11. "Ryanair sbarca in Albania. Attacco frontale a Wizz Air". 8 June 2023.
12. "EKSKLUZIVNO! Ryanair će Dubrovnik povezati sa 17 odredišta, prema Dublinu, Beču i Londonu će letjeti i zimi". 28 November 2023.
13. "Ryanair".
14. "Sunweb: nu ook vakantievluchten vanaf Weeze en uitbreiding op Brussels Airport". luchtvaartnieuws.nl. 14 December 2022.
15. "Direct flights from Düsseldorf (Weeze) (NRN)". FlightConnections. 23 May 2023.
16. "Our destinations". Weeze Airport. 23 May 2023.
17. Klatt, Michael (17 January 2017). "Goch/Weeze: Airport Weeze 2016 mit Rekordgewinn". RP ONLINE.
18. "ADV Monthly Traffic Report" (PDF). Retrieved 20 February 2018.
19. lokalklick.eu (in German) 22 December 2022.
20. "German Airport Statistics" (in German).
21. redactie, Onze (9 May 2007). "AirExpressBus opent busverbinding van Amsterdam naar Airport Weeze". Luchtvaartnieuws (in Dutch). Retrieved 11 October 2017.

External links

  Media related to Flughafen Niederrhein at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website
• Current weather for EDLV at NOAA/NWS
• Accident history for NRN at Aviation Safety Network