Düsseldorf International Airport

Name	Düsseldorf International Airport
Nativename	Flughafen Düsseldorf International
Image2	Düsseldorf International Airport2.jpg
Iata	DUS
Icao	EDDL
Caption	|mark=Airplane_silhouette.svg|marksize=10
Label	DUS|position=bottom
Lat deg	51|lat_min=17|lat_sec=22|lat_dir=N
Lon deg	06|lon_min=46|lon_sec=00|lon_dir=E

Location of airport in North Rhine-Westphalia | type = Public | owner = | operator = Flughafen Düsseldorf GmbH | city-served = Düsseldorf | location = | hub =

| elevation-f = 147 | elevation-m = 44.8 | coordinates = | website = www.duesseldorf-international.de | metric-elev = yes | metric-rwy = yes | r1-number = 05R/23L | r1-length-f = 10,474 | r1-length-m = 3,192 | r1-surface = Concrete | r2-number = 05L/23R | r2-length-f = 10,809 | r2-length-m = 3,294 | r2-surface = Concrete | stat-year = 2010 | stat1-header = Passengers | stat1-data = 18,988,149 | stat2-header = Passenger change 09-10 | stat2-data = 6.7% | stat3-header = Aircraft Movements | stat3-data = 215,544 | stat4-header = Movements change 09-10 | stat4-data = 0.7% | footnotes = Sources: Passenger Traffic, ADVGerman AIP at EUROCONTROL }}

Düsseldorf International Airport () is the largest airport in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, and the third largest airport in Germany, handling 18.99 million passengers in 2010. The airport handles on average 750 takeoffs and landings per day with a total of 70 airlines offering flights to 186 non-stop-destinations.

The airport

Düsseldorf International Airport is the largest and primary airport for the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region — the largest metropolitan region in Germany and among the largest metropolitan areas of the world. The airport is located in Düsseldorf-Lohausen. Largest nearby business centres are Düsseldorf and Essen; other cities within a 20 km radius are Duisburg, Krefeld, Mülheim an der Ruhr, Neuss and Wuppertal. The airport extends over a compact of land - small in comparison to airports of a similar capacity - but also reason for Düsseldorf being known as an airport of short distances. The airport is workplace for more than 18,200 employees. With 18.99 million passengers passing through in 2010, and Congress Centre, a Sheraton Hotel and a cinema. Messe Düsseldorf is situated in close proximity to Düsseldorf Airport City (some ).

Ownership

Düsseldorf International is a public–private partnership with the following owners:

50% Landeshauptstadt (state capital) Düsseldorf

50% Airport Partners GmbH (Ownership of Airport Partners GmbH: 40% Hochtief AirPort GmbH, 20% Hochtief AirPort Capital KGaA, 40% Dublin Airport Authority plc (through its wholly owned subsidiary Aer Rianta International cpt))

History

The first aviation event in the area was the landing of Zeppelin LZ3 on 19 September 1909 about 3 km (2 miles) south of the present airport. The present airport was opened on 19 April 1927, after two years of construction. Deutsche Lufthansa opened routes to Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne and Geneva. With the start of the Second World War civil use of the airport ceased in September 1939 with the airfield being used by the military.

At the end of the war the airport reopened for civil use in 1948. With the area being under British administration the first flights were operated by British European Airways to London Northolt. In 1950 the main runway was extended to 2475 metres.

In 1964 planning began for the construction of a new terminal, with capacity for 1.4 million passengers, and in 1969 the main runway was lengthened to 3000 metres.

In 1973 the new central building and the Terminal B were opened and in 1975 the railroad connection between Düsseldorf central station and the airport started operation. Terminal A was opened in 1977.

In 1986 Terminal C was opened and 8.22 million passengers used the airport - making it number two in Germany. By 1992 when a second runway was built 12.3 million passengers were using the airport.

Fire caused by welding work and insufficient structural fire protection broke out on the roof of terminal A on 11 April 1996, and 17 people died, mostly due to smoke inhalation, with many more hospitalised. Damage to the airport was estimated to be in the hundreds of millions. At the time, the fire was the biggest public disaster in the history of North Rhine-Westphalia. While repairs were ongoing, passengers were housed in big tents. In November Terminal C was completely redeveloped, with three lightweight construction halls serving as departure areas.

Also in 1997 construction began on the new inter-city railway station at the eastern edge of the airport. In 1998 the rebuilt Terminal A was reopened and the airport changed its name from "Rhine Ruhr airport" to "Düsseldorf International". Reconstruction of the central building and Terminal B began.

The first stage in the "Airport 2000+" programme commenced in 1999 with the laying of a foundation stone for a underground parking garage under the new terminal.

The new Düsseldorf Airport station was opened in May 2000, with the capacity of 300 train departures daily. 16 million passengers used the airport that year; Düsseldorf is now the third biggest airport in Germany. The new departures hall and Terminal B were opened in July 2001 after 2½ years of construction time; the rebuilt Gebäude Ost was reopened.

In 2002 the inter-terminal shuttle bus service was replaced by the suspended monorail called the SkyTrain connecting the terminal building with the InterCity train station. The monorail travels the 2.5 kilometres between the terminal and station at a maximum speed of 50 km/h. The system was developed by Siemens and is based on the similar H-Bahn operating with two lines on Dortmund university campus.

Airlines and destinations

Airbus A330-200 in 2004]] McDonnell Douglas DC-10 in 2002]] Boeing 737-300 in 2010]] Boeing 737-800 in 2008]]

Cargo airlines

Operations and statistics

Passenger numbers

Busiest routes

Ground transportation

(Bahnhof Düsseldorf Flughafen)]]

The airport is connected to the Autobahn via the A44. Two railway stations serve the airport. The Long distance station is located 2.5 km from the terminal and is serviced by all categories of German rail types, including ICE trains. A fully automatic, suspended monorail called SkyTrain connects the long distance station to the park houses and terminals. this service also connects the terminal to the outerlieing parking garages.

The airport also has its own S-Bahn station, Düsseldorf Airport Terminal station located below the terminal. It is serviced by the S11, which has its northern terminus there.

Airline lounges

Terminal A: Lufthansa Business Lounge & Lufthansa Senator Lounge

Terminal B: Air France Lounge, British Airways Terrace Lounge, Hugo Junkers Lounge (general)

Terminal C: airberlin Lounge, Emirates Lounge, Open Sky Lounge

Airport magazine

Das Magazin is a magazine available for visitors and passengers travelling through Düsseldorf airport. It contains information about new airlines serving Düsseldorf, new destinations and routes, and other information about the airport itself and surrounding facilities. Das Magazin is available at many shops and newsstands at the airport for free or via a paid subscription.

See also

Cologne Bonn Airport, an airport south from Düsseldorf, between the cities of Cologne and Bonn Dortmund Airport, an airport north-east from Düsseldorf, near the city of Dortmund Weeze Airport, an airport north-west from Düsseldorf, that is advertised by budget airlines as "Airport Düsseldorf Weeze", or "Airport Düsseldorf Niederrhein". A German court ruled the naming the airport after Düsseldorf would be misleading to passengers, however some budget airlines still use that name in advertisements outside of Germany.

Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn, commuter rail service within the Rhine-Ruhr region

List of the busiest airports in Europe, based on annual passenger traffic

References

External links

Düsseldorf International Airport Homepage

Sky-Train Düsseldorf

! Category:Airports in Germany Category:Buildings and structures in Düsseldorf Category:Buildings and structures in North Rhine-Westphalia Category:Düsseldorf Category:Transport in Düsseldorf Category:Transport in North Rhine-Westphalia Category:Economy of North Rhine-Westphalia Category:SIPEM people movers Category:Suspended monorails Category:Airport people mover systems