Leipzig/Halle Airport

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Leipzig/Halle Airport (IATA: LEJ, ICAO: EDDP) (German: Flughafen Leipzig/Halle) is an international airport located in Schkeuditz, Saxony and serves both Leipzig, Saxony and Halle, Saxony-Anhalt.

It is Germany's 13th largest airport by passengers and handled more than 2.1 million passengers in 2016 mainly with flights to European leisure destinations. In terms of cargo traffic, the airport is the fifth-busiest in Europe and the second-busiest in Germany after Frankfurt Airport, having handled 1,052,372 metric tonnes of cargo in 2016. The airport serves as the main European hub for DHL Aviation and the main hub for AeroLogic. Military installations have also been built at the airport for NATO and EU military aircraft.

Video Leipzig/Halle Airport

History

The airport was built new from scratch at a location between Halle and Leipzig from 1926 and opened in 1927.

On 18 March 1986 Air France flew a Concorde to the airport, to coincide with the world-renowned Leipzig trade fair. Two days later British Airways also flew a Concorde to Leipzig/Halle. In the following years, both airlines operated Concorde flights from Paris and London when the trade fair was held in Leipzig.

Despite its name, the airport ground property tax goes to the county of Delitzsch. A deal between the city of Leipzig and Delitzsch led to a land exchange. In 2007, Leipzig received land outside the airport while ownership of the airport land was transferred to Delitzsch. The District of Delitzsch now owns and claim taxes from the grounds and commercial interest from the airport.

DHL Aviation moved its European hub from Brussels Airport to Leipzig/Halle in early 2008, leading a significant increase in cargo traffic at the airport. Leipzig bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games and the airport was modernised as a result, even though London was eventually awarded the games.

In spring 2013, Ryanair announced the start of operations to Leipzig/Halle on six routes. However, one year later all of them except the flights to London-Stansted were terminated. In February 2015, Etihad Regional announced the immediate termination of all their Leipzig/Halle operations which had started only two years earlier, due to changes to their operational concept. All three routes were shut down while two newly announced ones did not start.

As of March 2015, the largest passenger airlines at Leipzig/Halle Airport (measured by weekly departures) are Condor with 38 outgoing flights a week followed by Air Berlin, which operates 29 departures per week.

In September 2016, Pakistan International Airlines announced plans to replace Manchester on their Islamabad - Manchester - New York City route with Leipzig/Halle in 2017 due to lower operational costs and time-saving measures. As the airline holds Fifth Freedom rights, this would be Leipzig/Halle's first passenger service to the United States. However, for 2017, the service will be kept via Manchester.

In October 2016, DHL inaugurated a major expansion to its freight facilities at the airport. Two new cargo terminals increased handling capacity by 50 percent.

Maps Leipzig/Halle Airport

Facilities

Terminal

The modern airport terminal structure extends over the adjacent motorway and railway. It features an integrated car park as well as the check-in-facilities and is connected to a pier equipped with six jet bridges as well as several apron stands.

Runways

Leipzig/Halle Airport has two runways. The terminal access is south of the railway while the runway 08L/26R parallels the driveway north of the railway, requiring aircraft to taxi on a bridge over the tracks and roads.

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Airlines and destinations

Passenger

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Leipzig/Halle Airport:

Cargo

Military

Some US airlines fly to Leipzig/Halle on behalf of the US Department of Defense, to bring US Army troops to Afghanistan and Iraq. Leipzig/Halle is used as technical stop for refueling on these flights. They do not appear at any official timetable. Soldiers flown via Leipzig/Halle are listed as transit passengers in its traffic statistics. Miami Air International airlines and others operate military charter flights via Leipzig/Halle.

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Statistics

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Ground transportation

Train

Leipzig/Halle Airport railway station is located directly beneath the passenger terminal and has both Intercity and Intercity-Express connections to cities like Frankfurt, Erfurt, Magdeburg, Hanover, Cologne and Dresden. Two lines of the suburban S-Bahn Mitteldeutschland connect directly to Leipzig and Halle, furthermore to Altenburg and Zwickau. Transit connection of the network reach most of parts of Central Germany.

Car

The airport is connected to two motorways: the A14 connecting to Dresden (130 km), Halle (Saale, 20 km) and Magdeburg (130 km), and the A9 connecting to Munich (430 km), Nuremberg (280 km), and Berlin (180 km).

Coach

Flixbus connects in both ways twice per day to Dresden, Göttingen, Kassel and once per day to Dortmund and Cologne.

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In popular culture

The airport's facilities have been featured in major films during recent years:

• In December 2004, Leipzig/Halle Airport was a filming location for Flightplan starring Jodie Foster and Peter Sarsgaard. According to the film, Jodie Foster's flight departs from Berlin but all shots showing Berlin's supposed airport were actually taken at Leipzig/Halle Airport.
• In 2010, the check-in area of Leipzig/Halle was a filming location for Unknown Identity starring Liam Neeson and Diane Kruger.
• The airport's terminal and apron were featured heavily as the location of a major confrontation between the fractured Avengers in the 2016 film Captain America: Civil War. Branded equipment featuring the airport's logo was shown several times during the scenes.

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See also

• Transport in Germany
• List of airports in Germany

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References

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External links

Media related to Leipzig/Halle Airport at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website
• Current weather for EDDP at NOAA/NWS
• Accident history for LEJ at Aviation Safety Network

Source of the article : Wikipedia