Weeze Airport, less commonly known as Niederrhein Airport, is a minorinternational airport in the Lower Rhine region of Germany. It is used by Ryanair. The airport is situated southwest of the municipality of Weeze and northwest of Kevelaer, about southeast of the Dutchcity ofNijmegen, and 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.
History
The airport uses the facilities of the former military airbaseRAF 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 nameFlughafen 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 to that city, which already had two closer international airports, resulted in the name being blocked by a court ruling that such a description would be 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. Weeze was served by the short-lived, Dutch low-cost carrierV 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. In February 2014, Ryanair announced the cancellation of 18 routes from Weeze for the 2014 summer season citing a lack of aircraft. 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.
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:
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.
