Dresden Airport

Dresden Airport
Flughafen Dresden

IATA: DRS – ICAO: EDDC

DRS
Location of airport in Saxony

Summary
Airport type Public
Serves Dresden, Germany
Elevation AMSL 754 ft / 230 m
Coordinates 51°08′04″N 13°46′05″E / 51.13444°N 13.76806°E / 51.13444; 13.76806 (Dresden Airport)Coordinates: 51°08′04″N 13°46′05″E / 51.13444°N 13.76806°E / 51.13444; 13.76806 (Dresden Airport)
Website dresden-airport.de
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
04/22 2,850 9,351 Concrete
Helipads
Number Length Surface
m ft
H1 30 98 Concrete/Asphalt
Statistics (2015)
Passengers Decrease 1,726,471
Sources: AIP at EUROCONTROL,[1]
Annual Traffic Report 2011[2]

Dresden Airport (IATA: DRS, ICAO: EDDC) is the international airport in Dresden, the capital of the German Free State of Saxony. It is located in Klotzsche, a district of Dresden 9 km (5.6 mi) north[1] of the city centre. It was known in German as Flughafen Dresden-Klotzsche. Destinations from the airport include a few European cities and several holiday destinations.

EADS EFW(part of EADS and mainly responsible for freighter aircraft conversion) is based at the airport.

History

Early years

The airport was opened to commercial traffic on 11 July 1935.[3]

Though planned as a commercial airport, its importance to the military increased dramatically during the Third Reich. During World War II it was exclusively used for military purposes. An airlift between the airport and Breslau (modern day Wrocław) was established to support German troops during the Siege of Breslau in the spring of 1945. Attempts to destroy buildings and equipment before Allied troops could occupy Dresden failed due to the resistance of civil airport employees.

During the following years, the airport was used as an education centre for the Soviet army. It was reopened for commercial traffic on 16 June 1957. In 1959 international air traffic resumed, primarily to Eastern Bloc countries.

Between 1955 and 1961, the East German government decided to develop its own aviation industry centred on Dresden. Although this development ultimately failed, it increased the importance of Klotzsche Airport considerably, and still shapes the design and atmosphere of the airport today.[3]

Development after German reunification

After German reunification, the airport was expanded and flights to western European capitals were added. Traffic increased sevenfold during the first half of the 1990s and a second terminal was opened in 1995.

In 2001 the current terminal was added. It was rebuilt from a hangar formerly used as an assembly hall by the aircraft industry.[3]

In 2008, 1,860,364 passengers passed through the airport, an increase of 0.3% over the previous year and a record for the airport. In the same year, there were 36,968 takeoffs and landings, an increase of 2.3% over the previous year.[4] The airport rebranded itself as "Dresden International" in September of the same year.

In February 2015, Etihad Regional announced the immediate termination of all their Dresden operations (which had commenced only two years earlier) due to changes to their strategy. All three existing routes were shut down, while two planned routes were never started.[5] In June 2015, CityJet announced the termination of their route from London City Airport to Dresden after two years, citing low demand.[6]

Facilities

The airport has one modern passenger terminal building with several shops, restaurants and service agencies as well as seven aircraft parking positions equipped with jet bridges and some additional apron stands for mid-sized aircraft such as the Airbus A320.

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights from Dresden Airport:[7]

AirlinesDestinations
Aeroflot Moscow-Sheremetyevo
Air Berlin Düsseldorf
Seasonal: Palma de Mallorca
Air VIA Seasonal charter: Burgas, Varna
Bulgarian Air Charter Seasonal charter: Burgas
easyJet Switzerland Basel/Mulhouse
Eurowings Cologne/Bonn, Düsseldorf, Hamburg (ends 30 October 2016)[8]
Eurowings
operated by Germanwings 		Stuttgart
Seasonal: Corfu
Freebird Airlines Seasonal charter: Antalya
Germania Seasonal: Antalya, Fuerteventura, Funchal, Gran Canaria, Heraklion, Hurghada, Kos, Lanzarote, Málaga, Marsa Alam, Palma de Mallorca, Paphos, Rhodes, Tenerife-South
KLM
operated by KLM Cityhopper 		Amsterdam (begins 16 May 2016)[9]
Lufthansa Frankfurt
Lufthansa Regional
operated by Lufthansa CityLine 		Munich
Nouvelair Tunisie Seasonal charter: Enfidha
SunExpress Antalya
SunExpress Deutschland Seasonal charter: Ras al-Khaimah
Swiss International Air Lines Zürich
Vueling Seasonal: Barcelona

Statistics

Check-in area
Apron overview
Passengers
2000 1,759,638
2001 Decrease 1,642,736
2002 Decrease 1,518,784
2003 Increase 1,553,774
2004 Increase 1,620,781
2005 Increase 1,782,901
2006 Increase 1,836,068
2007 Increase 1,849,836
2008 Increase 1,856,390
2009 Decrease 1,718,923
2010 Increase 1,843,113
2011 Increase 1,917,915
2012 Decrease 1,886,425
2013 Decrease 1,754,139
2014[10] Increase 1,760,480
2015[11] Decrease 1,726,471
Source: ADV[12]

Ground transportation

Public transport

Dresden Airport railway station is in the basement of the terminal building. It is served by the S2 line of the Dresden S-Bahn, which runs every half-hour to Dresden-Neustadt and Dresden Hauptbahnhof stations in the centre of Dresden, with journey times of 13 and 23 minutes respectively. On weekdays the trains continue on to the towns of Heidenau and Pirna.[13]

Dresdner Verkehrsbetriebe (DVB) bus route 77 links the airport to DVB tram route 7, providing an alternative route to central Dresden. DVB bus route 80 links the airport to the districts of Klotzsche, Wilder Mann, Trachau and Cotta as well as the town of Boxdorf and also tram route 7.[13]

The airport is in the Verkehrsverbund Oberelbe's Dresden tariff zone, as is central Dresden. A single ticket (currently priced at €2.20) is valid on the S-Bahn, trams and buses within that zone. Other tariff zones cover the surrounding towns as far as Meissen and the Czech border. Tickets can be purchased at ticket vending machines in the station, at the bus stop, or at the airport information desk on the Arrivals level of the terminal.[13]

Road transport

Dresden Airport is around 9 km (5.6 mi) north[1] of the centre of Dresden. The direct journey, on city streets, takes about 20 minutes.[14]

The airport is served by an adjacent junction on the A4 Autobahn, which by-passes central Dresden on its route from Aachen, on the Dutch border, to Görlitz, on the Polish border. Junctions in the Dresden area connect the A4 to the A13, to Berlin, and the A17, to the Czech border and Prague.[14]

The airport has a multi-storey car park with approximately 1,500 spaces, connected to the terminal building by a glass-covered pedestrian bridge. Additionally, there are three long-stay car parks, and a short-stay car park right next to the terminal access.[15]

See also

References

External links

Media related to Flughafen Dresden at Wikimedia Commons

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