Kiel Airport (german: Flughafen Kiel, ) is a small regional

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...

Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the Jutland ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. It is located in the borough of

Holtenau Holtenau (; Danish: Holtenå) is a district of Kiel, on the southeastern part of the Danish Wahld. It was historically part of the Duchy of Schleswig, and has cultural influences from both Germany and Denmark. The district is located at the mouth ...

, north of the city centre. It is registered as a ''public airfield'' (german: Verkehrslandeplatz). As of 2006, it served 30,528 passengers p. a.

History

The aerodrome was built in 1914 on a plain area that had been created from material dug out during the construction of the

Kiel Canal The Kiel Canal (german: Nord-Ostsee-Kanal, literally "North- oEast alticSea canal", formerly known as the ) is a long freshwater canal in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. The canal was finished in 1895, but later widened, and links the N ...

. In 1927, the Kiel Airport Company (german: Kieler Flughafengesellschaft) was founded, which operated the State Airport of Kiel (german: Landflughafen Kiel). During this time, there were 27 national and international destinations. In 1937, the airport was designated a military airbase. However, it continued to be used for civilian flights, such as scheduled flights to

Braunschweig Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( , from Low German ''Brunswiek'' , Braunschweig dialect: ''Bronswiek'') is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the ...

and Berlin (Tempelhof). Its taxiways were extended in 1963, a first terminal was built in 1965. This terminal was used for scheduled flights to

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...

operated by

Pan Am Pan American World Airways, originally founded as Pan American Airways and commonly known as Pan Am, was an American airline that was the principal and largest international air carrier and unofficial overseas flag carrier of the United States ...

. In 1987, the terminal that is still used today was built. At the same time Lufthansa began offering scheduled flights to

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...

, and later to Cologne/Bonn,

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

Kaliningrad Kaliningrad ( ; rus, Калининград, p=kəlʲɪnʲɪnˈɡrat, links=y), until 1946 known as Königsberg (; rus, Кёнигсберг, Kyonigsberg, ˈkʲɵnʲɪɡzbɛrk; rus, Короле́вец, Korolevets), is the largest city and ...

and Riga. In 1995, the airport became a civilian airport again and in 1997, a new

control tower Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airs ...

that was operated by civilian staff was constructed. However, it continues to be used for military purposes. A new hangar was built in 2000. In the same year, the airport's future prospects were analysed. Based on that analysis, plans approved by the state administration of

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sc ...

in March 2002 included an extension of the runway from 1300 m to 2100 m. This would have allowed jet aircraft to land at Kiel. Federal Highway B 503 would have crossed the extended runway in a tunnel. However, use of the airport declined in the following years as more and more scheduled flight routes were discontinued. When the last route was cut on 23 December 2005, operation of the airport was suspended until 3 April 2006 and on 24 January 2006, the state's Secretary of Commerce announced that the extension plans were scrapped for good.

Cirrus Airlines Cirrus Airlines Luftfahrtgesellschaft mbH was a German regional airline with its head office in Hallbergmoos and its maintenance facilities at Saarbrücken Airport. It operated both charter and scheduled flights, the latter on behalf of Lufthan ...

operated scheduled flights to

from 2 May 2006 using a single DHC-8-100 aircraft, which was based in Kiel Airport. The state of

offered subsidies for three years. However, as the number of passengers was substantially lower than expected, the service was discontinued in October 2006.

Airlines and destinations

There are no scheduled services to and from Kiel Airport.

Civil use

''Luftsportverein Kiel e.V.'' (German for ''Air Sports Association Kiel''), the

charter airline Air charter is the business of renting an entire aircraft (i.e., chartering) as opposed to individual aircraft seats (i.e., purchasing a ticket through a traditional airline). Regulation Charter – also called air taxi or ad hoc – flights ...

FLM Aviation FLM Aviation was a German aviation company based at Kiel-Holtenau Airport. It mainly flew executive charter flights, but also sightseeing, cargo and ambulance flights. At times FLM Aviation operated scheduled flights on behalf of dauair and for ...

and a helicopter flight service are based at Kiel Airport. Further, there are annual ''Internationale Flugtage'' (German for ''International Aviation Days'') with air acrobatics, parachute jumps and displays of historic aeroplanes.

Military use

The aerodrome has been in military use from the beginning. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, the

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

operated aircraft in support of the Kriegsmarine from the base, including the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th squadrons of Embarked Air Group 196 (german: Bordfliegergruppe 196) which provided aircraft for service aboard

surface combatant Surface combatants (or surface ships or surface vessels) are a subset of naval warships which are designed for warfare on the surface of the water, with their own weapons and armed forces. They are generally ships built to fight other ships, subma ...

s. Since 1958, it is a base for air wings of the

German Navy The German Navy (, ) is the navy of Germany and part of the unified ''Bundeswehr'' (Federal Defense), the German Armed Forces. The German Navy was originally known as the ''Bundesmarine'' (Federal Navy) from 1956 to 1995, when ''Deutsche Mari ...

. Until 28 March 2013 the Air Wing No. 5 (german: Marinefliegergeschwader 5) was based at Kiel, which was known for search and rescue operations flown from the airport with Sea King helicopters. The are now based at

Nordholz Nordholz is a village and a former municipality in the district of Cuxhaven, in Lower Saxony, Germany. Since 1 January 2015 it is part of the municipality Wurster Nordseeküste. It is situated approximately 25 km north of Bremerhaven, and 12 ...

. Further, German Air Force aircraft operating as fake targets for practice depart from Kiel Airport.

Incidents and accidents

* On 15 February 2006, a private aircraft from

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

had to make an emergency landing at Kiel because of smoke within the aircraft. The plane overran the runway and slipped down a slope as the pilot was unfamiliar with the airport and misunderstood the runway length given over the radio.

References

External links

Official website

* * {{authority control Airports in Schleswig-Holstein Airports established in 1914 Luftwaffe bases

Airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...

1914 establishments in Germany