Münster Osnabrück International Airport , ''Flughafen Münster/Osnabrück'' in German, is a minor
international airport
An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries around the world. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports and they must feature longer ...
in the
German state of
North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located near
Greven, north of
Münster and south of
Osnabrück. The airport serves the area of the northern
Ruhrgebiet, western and southwestern
Lower Saxony,
Emsland
Landkreis Emsland () is a district in Lower Saxony, Germany named after the river Ems. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts of Leer, Cloppenburg and Osnabrück, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (district of Steinfur ...
,
Westphalia and parts of the
Netherlands and features flights to some European city and leisure destinations.
History
Early years
On 21 December 1966 the cities of
Münster,
Osnabrück, and
Greven as well as the
districts
A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...
of
Münster and
Tecklenburg founded the Münster/Osnabrück Airport
GmbH.
In mid 1967 the German authorities approached the British Army for assistance in building an airfield to serve the Münster-Osnabrück area. An airstrip existed at Greven, but the site was heavily wooded and included one badly drained and swampy area, and was within a few hundred metres of the
Dortmund-Ems Canal which had been bombed during World War Two and where the presence of unexploded bombs was suspected. By March 1968 it was agreed that the British Army would clear and level an area 2120 metres long between 400 and 500 metres wide and produce a base of clean sand 1520 metres long and 50 metres wide, for a runway to be used by aircraft of Trident and BAC 1-11 size. Work began in April 1968. 16 Field Squadron
Royal Engineers
The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...
(RE) provided the project control and RE units from all over the
British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) but particularly 43 Field Support Squadron RE provided manpower and plant.
On 24 September 1968 the state of
North Rhine-Westphalia received permission to begin construction. An
apron and a long runway were built. The ground levelling was performed by BAOR.
Despite many problems the project was completed on 30 June 1969, within a few days of the planned date. As a gesture to recognise the British Army involvement the Germans gifted a
Ka 7 glider to the regiment and gave them honorary membership of the Greven Gliding club. After five years of construction the Münster/Osnabrück airport was officially opened on 27 March 1972.
The first charter flight from Münster/Osnabrück airport to
Palma de Mallorca
Palma (; ; also known as ''Palma de Mallorca'', officially between 1983–88, 2006–08, and 2012–16) is the capital and largest city of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. It is situate ...
took place in 1973.
Development since the 1980s
On 29 October 1984
British Airways started to serve the route from
Berlin to Münster/Osnabrück with
BAC Super One-Eleven; these were the first scheduled jet flights from the airport. Münster/Osnabrück gained the status of an international airport in 1986.
A new terminal building that could accommodate a larger number of passengers was inaugurated in 1995; the new Terminal 2 followed in 2002.
The airport intended to extend the runway to to attract intercontinental flights. The plan was the focus of protests from
environmentalists, because the expansion would damage the Eltingmühlenbach natural area. In the first phase, the runway would be extended to . This would have cost around
€60 million. The plan was approved in 2004. Originally, work was scheduled to begin in December 2006. However, among others
Naturschutzbund Deutschland filed a lawsuit against the expansion. In May 2011 the Higher Administrative Court in Münster decided against the expansion because of mistakes made in the ''Planfeststellungsverfahren'', which describes the plans of the runway expansion.
The plan to connect the airport with the
Bundesautobahn 1 was realized in November 2010.
The cities of
Münster and
Greven and the
Steinfurt
Steinfurt (; Westphalian: ''Stemmert'') is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Steinfurt. From roughly 1100-1806, it was the capital of the County of Steinfurt.
Geography
Steinfurt is situated north- ...
district plan to donate an area of around to the airport, for airport-related commercial activities. This met with protests as well, because this plan would endanger the ''Hüttruper Heide'' heath.
Facilities
The airport has one modern passenger terminal building, which is divided into Terminal 1 for arrivals and Terminal 2 for departures. The ground level has check-in facilities as well as travel agencies, the upper level has the airside area as well as some shops and restaurants and a visitors terrace. The apron is equipped with five aircraft stands which are equipped with
jet bridges and can be used by mid-sized planes such as the
Boeing 737 and
Airbus 320 family
The Airbus A320 family is a series of narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus.
The A320 was launched in March 1984, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air France.
The first member of the famil ...
, up to the
Boeing 757. There are also several bus-boarding stands on the apron.
Airlines and destinations
The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Münster Osnabrück International Airport:
[fmo.de – Streckennetz](_blank)
(German) retrieved 1 October 2021
Statistics
Ground transportation
Car
The airport has roughly 7500 parking spaces spread over multiple car parks, two of which are multi-storey. The airport can be reached via two motorways:
*
A 1 from Bremen/Osnabrück: Exit 75 Flughafen Münster/Osnabrück
*
A 30 from Amsterdam/Rheine: Exit 11b Ibbenbüren
Bus
There are several scheduled bus connections from
Münster railway station and by a coach shuttle from Osnabrück. The coaches take approximately 40 minutes to get from the airport to the railway station
See also
*
Transport in Germany
*
List of airports in Germany
References
External links
Official website
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Munster Osnabruck International Airport
Airports in North Rhine-Westphalia
Airports established in 1969
Buildings and structures in North Rhine-Westphalia
Osnabrück
Münster