Frankfurt–Hahn Airport

For the NATO military use of this facility, see Hahn Air Base.
Frankfurt–Hahn Airport
Flughafen Frankfurt-Hahn
IATA: HHN – ICAO: EDFH
Summary
Airport type Public
Operator Flughafen Frankfurt-Hahn GmbH
Serves Rhineland-Palatinate
Location Kirchberg, Germany
Focus city for Ryanair
Elevation AMSL 1,649 ft / 503 m
Coordinates 49°56′54″N 007°15′51″E / 49.94833°N 7.26417°E / 49.94833; 7.26417Coordinates: 49°56′54″N 007°15′51″E / 49.94833°N 7.26417°E / 49.94833; 7.26417
Website hahn-airport.de
Map
HHN

Location of airport in Rhineland-Palatinate

Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
03/21 12,467 3,800 Asphalt
Statistics (2015)
Passengers Increase 2,665,105
Source:

Frankfurt–Hahn Airport (German: Flughafen Frankfurt-Hahn, IATA: HHN, ICAO: EDFH) is an international airport located 10 km (6.2 mi) from the town of Kirchberg and 20 km (12 mi) from the town of Simmern in the Rhein-Hunsrück district of Rhineland-Palatinate to the west of central Germany.

Despite its name, the airport is virtually equidistant between Frankfurt and Luxembourg – about 120 km (75 mi) to each city by road. It is actually closer to the German cities of Koblenz at about 70 km (43 mi) and Mainz at about 90 km (56 mi). The addition of Frankfurt to its name, however, is not an invention of low-cost carriers as is the case with some other airports – Frankfurt-Hahn is the airport's official name as it positioned itself as an alternative to Frankfurt Airport for low-cost and cargo traffic. During the 2000s it was owned by Fraport, which also operates Frankfurt Airport.

History

Military past

Main article: Hahn Air Base

During the Cold War Hahn Air Base was a frontline air base, and home of the United States Air Force 50th Fighter Wing (in various designations) for most of those years as part of the United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE). It was one of several USAFE bases in Germany (Zweibrücken, Ramstein, Sembach, Bitburg, Spangdahlem, and Rhein-Main) all within 100 kilometres (62 mi) of each other. Beyond their location in the heart of US troop concentrations, these air bases were well situated to reach all locations within Europe and the Mediterranean region.

At the end of the Cold War, Hahn Air Base had more than 13,000 people and three squadrons of F-16 tactical fighters. When the Cold War threat of an invasion of West Germany subsided, the United States was left with a huge excess capacity of expensive airfields in Europe.

As a result, the 50th TFW was inactivated in 1991 after 35 years at Hahn. The 496th TFS was inactivated on 15 May; The 313th TFS on 1 July, and the 10th TFS on 30 September. The 50th Tactical Fighter Wing was inactivated on 30 September 1991. On 30 January 1992 the 50th was activated as the 50th Space Wing at Falcon (later, Schriever) AFB, Colorado.

On 30 September 1993, most of Hahn Air Base was returned to civil German authorities but USAFE retained a small portion as a radio communications site until its final return to German authorities in 2012.[1] It is still frequently used for military charters, these flights being operated by, amongst others, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines.

The German government decided to turn the former NATO airfield into a civil airport. One of the main investors in the development of the new Frankfurt-Hahn Airport was Fraport AG, which primarily runs Frankfurt International Airport, the aim being to reduce the amount of traffic using that airport.

The faculty and police training school of the Rheinland-Pfalz State Police were combined at a new joint facility located at the air base's former housing area in 1996.

Development into a low-cost airport

The German government decided to turn the former airfield into a civil airport. One of the main investors in the development of the new Frankfurt–Hahn Airport was Fraport, which primarily runs Frankfurt Airport, the aim being to reduce the amount of traffic using that airport. However, in 2009 Fraport sold its 65% Frankfurt–Hahn shares for €1 including debt of €120 million to the federal state Rhineland-Palatinate.[2]

Hahn charges its airline operators less than Frankfurt Airport which has made the airport popular with low-cost carriers, especially Ryanair which uses the airport as a major base.

The world record for heaviest single-piece of air cargo, a 189.98 metric tonne generator for a gas power plant in Armenia, was loaded on to a cargo flight departing from Hahn in 2009 using the Antonov 225.[3]

In 2013, Etihad Cargo announced the relocation of their cargo operations from Hahn to Frankfurt Airport which caused a downturn for the airport as Etihad was one of the most important customers.[4] Additionally, Ryanair cancelled and reduced capacity on several routes for summer 2014 as three of nine aircraft based at the airport were removed.[5]

In January 2014 the airport announced it had accumulated debts of €125 million while passenger and cargo traffic were decreasing. The figures mean the airport could be closed within the next ten years. [6] As of March 2015, the owners, the German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse, have sought to sell the indebted airport.[7]

In March 2015, Yangtze River Express announced they would to cease their cargo operations at Frankfurt–Hahn Airport in favour of Munich Airport. Frankfurt-Hahn lost its largest freight customer and four cargo destinations.[8] Months earlier, Qatar Airways and Aeroflot had also ceased their cargo operations at the airport.[7] By July 2015, the airport's freight numbers dropped by 36 percent.{cn}

In response to rumors that Amazon.com intends to buy the airport, a spokesperson for the airport revealed in April 2016 that three bids were made on the airport, all three of them coming from China.[9]

Infrastructure

Terminals

Check-in area

The airport consists of one passenger and one cargo terminal. The passenger terminal is equipped with some shops and restaurants, for example a branch of McDonald's.[10] The apron features eleven stands for mid-sized aircraft such as the Boeing 737 which are reached on foot. The cargo apron has three stands for large aircraft such as the Boeing 747-8F.

Runway

Frankfurt–Hahn has a long runway of 3,800 metres (12,467 ft) in the direction of 03/21. This combined with a large apron allows it to handle some of the world's biggest aircraft such as the Antonov An-124 or the Boeing 747 Large Cargo Freighter, both types being frequent visitors. It has an Instrument Landing System available to both sides, with runway 21 being category 3 approved; low visibility conditions are a frequent problem at the airport, especially during autumn and winter.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Frankfurt–Hahn Airport:[11]

AirlinesDestinations
Ryanair Alicante, Bari, Bergamo, Cagliari, Comiso, Dublin, Edinburgh, Féz, Girona, Gran Canaria, Kerry, Lamezia Terme, Lanzarote, Lisbon, London-Stansted, Málaga, Marrakesh, Nador, Newquay, Palma de Mallorca, Pescara, Pisa, Porto, Riga, Rome-Ciampino, Santiago de Compostela, Tenerife-South, Thessaloniki, Timișoara (begins 2 September 2016),[12] Trapani, Treviso, Valencia, Vilnius
Seasonal: Alghero, Chania, Faro, Ibiza, Jerez de la Frontera, Montpellier, Pula, Reus, Zadar
SunExpress Izmir
Wizz Air Budapest, Gdańsk, Katowice, Skopje, Sofia, Târgu Mureș, Timişoara, Tuzla, Vilnius

Cargo

AirlinesDestinations
Atlas Air Mumbai
MyCargo Airlines Istanbul–Sabiha Gökçen
Nippon Cargo Airlines Amsterdam, Milan-Malpensa, Tokyo-Narita
Silk Way Airlines Baku

Statistics

Overview of the cargo apron at Frankfurt-Hahn Airport
Passengers
2004 2,751,585
2005 Increase 3,076,823
2006 Increase 3,704,633
2007 Increase 4,014,898
2008 Decrease 3,940,159
2009 Decrease 3,793,710
2010 Decrease 3,493,451
2011 Decrease 2,894,109
2012 Decrease 2,790,961
2013 Decrease 2,667,402
2014 Decrease 2,447,140
2015[13] Increase 2,667,000
Source: ADV[14]

Ground transportation

Frankfurt–Hahn Airport is almost equidistant from Frankfurt and Luxembourg. Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof (Frankfurt main railway station) is 123 km from the airport and Gare Centrale Luxembourg (Luxembourg central railway station) is 118 km from the airport.[15]

Coach

Hahn is served by a number of (mostly private) coach operators that run regular services to Frankfurt am Main (1 h 45 min, via Frankfurt Airport, Terminal 2), Cologne (2 h 15 min), Luxembourg (1 h 45 min) and a number of other cities in western Germany and the region.

Rail

The airport has no railway station (it used to have a freight railway connection). The nearest train station is in Traben-Trarbach (20 km by road, 10 km as the crow flies), the terminus of the Pünderich–Traben-Trarbach railway. The nearest long-distance railway stations are Bullay (15 km to the NW, on the Koblenz–Trier–Saarbrücken line), and Idar-Oberstein (26 km south), Kirn (22 km SE) and Bad Sobernheim (30 km SE), all on the Mainz–Bad Kreuznach–Saarbrücken line. Frequent buses also run to the main railway station of nearby cities, the closest being Mainz (1 h 10 min, 60 km or 37 mi to the east) and Koblenz (1 h 5 min, 50 km NE). There have been, however, plans to reactivate a rail line to the airport that was formerly used by the U.S. military for the former air base.

Car

Hahn has reasonable road connections. The nearest Autobahn connections are approximately 40 kilometres (25 mi) to the west (A1) or east (A 61). Parking and car rental are available at the airport.

Other facilities

The head office of AirIT Services AG, a subsidiary of Fraport, is in Building 663 at Hahn Airport.[16]

See also

References

Citations

Bibliography

External links

Media related to Frankfurt-Hahn Airport at Wikimedia Commons

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