Weeze Airport, 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 southwest of the municipality of Weeze and 7 km northwest of Kevelaer, about 33 km southeast of the Dutch city of Nijmegen, and 48 km northwest of the German city of Duisburg.

History

Foundation and early years

The airport uses the facilities of the former military airbase RAF Laarbruch, and began operating as a civilian 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 civilian airport. The operators originally wanted to name it after the city of Düsseldorf, but the significant distance of 83 km 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 in 2016 that such a description would be likely to mislead passengers. However, Ryanair still refers to it as "Düsseldorf-Weeze". Compared to Düsseldorf, 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. 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. 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.

Development since 2010

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 seasonal flights at Weeze Airport:

Statistics

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.

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.