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 mostly used by low-cost carriers, especially Ryanair. The airport is situated 3.7 km (2.3 mi) southwest of the municipality of Weeze and 7 km (4.3 mi) northwest 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.
Video Weeze Airport
History
The airport uses the facilities of the former military airbase RAF Laarbruch, it began operations as a civil airport in 2003. There is also a large fire brigade training facility on the airport grounds. Its IATA code is NRN because of its official name Flughafen Niederrhein.
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 European destinations, from its inception in 2003 until its bankruptcy in 2004. During this time, passenger numbers doubled from 200,000 to 400,000 within a year.
In 2008, with 1.52 million passengers, which represented a growth of 80% on the previous year, the airport was among Europe's fastest-growing.
In February 2014, Ryanair announced the cancellation of 18 routes from Weeze for the 2014 summer season stating a lack of aircraft.
Naming controversy
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 (the actual Düsseldorf Airport as well as Cologne Bonn Airport), resulted in the name being blocked by a court ruling that it was likely to mislead passengers. 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.
Maps Weeze Airport
Facilities
Weeze Airport features one passenger terminal building featuring restaurants and shops besides the check-in facilities. The apron, which lies 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 - it is located to the west of the terminal building instead in front of it - bus-boarding is used for 6 stands. Only 3 stands are close to the terminal which could be boarded by foot.
Airlines and destinations
The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Weeze Airport:
Statistics
Ground transportation
Coach
Direct buses serve Düsseldorf Main Station up to 7 times a day; the travel time is 1h 15min. There are also shuttle buses on reservation to Duisburg and Essen in Germany and to the Dutch cities of Nijmegen, Venlo and Arnhem. Airexpressbus offered from June 2007 until spring 2017 a service between Weeze Airport and Amsterdam with stops at Eindhoven Airport, Den Bosch, and Utrecht.
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 the bus to Weeze or Kevelaer railway stations.
See also
- Transport in Germany
- List of airports in Germany
References
External links
Media related to Flughafen Weeze at Wikimedia Commons
- Official website
- Current weather for EDLV at NOAA/NWS
- Accident history for NRN at Aviation Safety Network
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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