Münster Osnabrück International Airport , ''Flughafen Münster/Osnabrück'' in German, is a minor international airport in the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

state of

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inha ...

. It is located near

Greven Greven (; Westphalian: ''Graiwen'') is a medium-sized town in the district of Steinfurt, in Germany's most populous state of North Rhine-Westphalia and close to the city of Münster. Geography Greven is situated on the river Ems, approx. 25&n ...

, north of

Münster Münster (; nds, Mönster) is an independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a state di ...

and south of

Osnabrück Osnabrück (; wep, Ossenbrügge; archaic ''Osnaburg'') is a city in the German state of Lower Saxony. It is situated on the river Hase in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest. With a population ...

. The airport serves the area of the northern

Ruhrgebiet The Ruhr ( ; german: Ruhrgebiet , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr area, sometimes Ruhr district, Ruhr region, or Ruhr valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 2,800/km ...

, western and southwestern

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

, Emsland,

Westphalia Westphalia (; german: Westfalen ; nds, Westfalen ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the regio ...

and parts of the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

and features flights to some European city and leisure destinations.

History

Greven,_Flughafen_Münster-Osnabrück_--_2014_--_9839

Early years

On 21 December 1966 the cities of

, and

as well as the districts of

and

Tecklenburg Tecklenburg () is a town in the district of Steinfurt, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Its name comes from the ruined castle around which it was built. The town is situated on the Hermannsweg hiking trail. The coat of arms shows an anchor ...

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 (RE) provided the project control and RE units from all over the

British Army of the Rhine There have been two formations named British Army of the Rhine (BAOR). Both were originally occupation forces in Germany, one after the First World War and the other after the Second World War. Both formations had areas of responsibility located ...

(BAOR) but particularly 43 Field Support Squadron RE provided manpower and plant. On 24 September 1968 the state of

received permission to begin construction. An

apron An apron is a garment that is worn over other clothing to cover the front of the body. The word comes from old French ''napron'' meaning a small piece of cloth, however over time "a napron" became "an apron", through a linguistics process cal ...

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 took place in 1973.

Development since the 1980s

On 29 October 1984

British Airways British Airways (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London, England, near its main hub at Heathrow Airport. The airline is the second largest UK-based carrier, based on fleet size and passengers ...

started to serve the route from

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

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 An environmentalist is a person who is concerned with and/or advocates for the protection of the environment. An environmentalist can be considered a supporter of the goals of the environmental movement, "a political and ethical movement that se ...

, because the expansion would damage the Eltingmühlenbach natural area. In the first phase, the runway would be extended to . This would have cost around

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists ...

60 million. The plan was approved in 2004. Originally, work was scheduled to begin in December 2006. However, among others

Naturschutzbund Deutschland The Naturschutzbund Deutschland e.V. ("Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union") or NABU is a German non-governmental organisation (NGO) dedicated to conservation at home and abroad, including the protection of rivers, forests and individ ...

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 is an autobahn in Germany. It runs from Heiligenhafen in Schleswig-Holstein to Saarbrücken, a distance of , but is incomplete between Cologne and Trier. B 207 continues north from Heiligenhafen to Puttgarden, at the end of the island of Fehma ...

was realized in November 2010. The cities of

and

and the Steinfurt 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 bridge A jet bridge (also termed jetway, jetwalk, airgate, gangway, aerobridge/airbridge, skybridge, finger, airtube, expedited suspended passenger entry system (E-SPES), or its official industry name passenger boarding bridge (PBB)) is an enclosed, ...

s and can be used by mid-sized planes such as the

Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Boeing Renton Factory, Renton Factory in Washington (state), Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the Boeing 707, 7 ...

and Airbus 320 family, up to the

Boeing 757 The Boeing 757 is an American narrow-body airliner designed and built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The then-named 7N7, a twinjet successor for the 727 (a trijet), received its first orders in August 1978. The prototype completed its mai ...

. 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
(German) retrieved 1 October 2021

Statistics

Greven,_Flughafen_Münster-Osnabrück_--_2014_--_9834

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

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