Rotterdam The Hague Airport (formerly ''Rotterdam Airport'', ''Vliegveld Zestienhoven'' in Dutch), 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 ...

serving Rotterdam, the Netherlands' second largest city, and The Hague, its administrative and royal capital. It is located north northwest of Rotterdam in

South Holland South Holland ( nl, Zuid-Holland ) is a province of the Netherlands with a population of over 3.7 million as of October 2021 and a population density of about , making it the country's most populous province and one of the world's most densely ...

and is the third busiest airport in the Netherlands. The airport handled over 2.1 million passengers in 2019 and features scheduled flights to European metropolitan and leisure destinations. It is also used extensively by general aviation and there are several flying clubs, a skydiving club and a

flight training Flight training is a course of study used when learning to pilot an aircraft. The overall purpose of primary and intermediate flight training is the acquisition and honing of basic airmanship skills. Flight training can be conducted under a str ...

school located at the airport.

History

Early years

After World War II, the Dutch government decided that a second national airport was needed in addition to Schiphol. Rotterdam had previously had an airport before the war; Waalhaven airport, but it was heavily damaged in the German bombing of Rotterdam, and was later completely destroyed to prevent it from being used by the Germans. Reconstruction of the airport was not a realistic proposition, so a new location was found in the ''Zestienhoven''

polder A polder () is a low-lying tract of land that forms an artificial hydrological entity, enclosed by embankments known as dikes. The three types of polder are: # Land reclaimed from a body of water, such as a lake or the seabed # Flood plains s ...

, giving the airport its original name. Construction of the airport began in August 1955 and the airport was officially opened in October 1956. Several large international airlines, such as

Swissair Swissair AG/ S.A. (German: Schweizerische Luftverkehr-AG; French: S.A. Suisse pour la Navigation Aérienne) was the national airline of Switzerland between its founding in 1931 and bankruptcy in 2002. It was formed from a merger between Bal ...

Lufthansa Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), commonly shortened to Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. When combined with its subsidiaries, it is the second- largest airline in Europe in terms of passengers carried. Lufthansa is one of the five founding m ...

, Air France, Channel Airways, and British Air Ferries ( Channel Air Bridge) were soon operating to Rotterdam. However, in the 1970s plans were made to either close or move the airport to make space for housing. Its uncertain future halted the airport's growth and led to many operators leaving.

Development since the 1990s

For almost thirty years the airport faced closure, but the economic growth of the 1990s caused an increase in passengers again, and in 2001 it was decided that the airport's current location would be maintained for at least a century. The route with the longest continual service, to London Heathrow and operated by

KLM Cityhopper KLM Cityhopper is the regional airline subsidiary of KLM, headquartered in Haarlemmermeer, North Holland, Netherlands. It is based at nearby Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. As a subsidiary of Air France–KLM, it is an affiliate of SkyTeam. The airli ...

, was suspended in 2008. This marked the end of KLM's involvement with the airport. However, in December 2012, British Airways began a service to Rotterdam from Heathrow. In October 2014, British Airways announced they would suspend the route again in March 2015. British Airways now flies to Rotterdam from London City Airport. The name of the airport was changed from ''Zestienhoven'' to ''Rotterdam Airport'' and finally in 2010 to its current name ''Rotterdam The Hague Airport''. Most flights today are operated by smaller mainline jets such as the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 series or the Embraer 190. There is also a fair amount of business aviation. State and military aircraft also use the airport frequently, due to its proximity to The Hague, the seat of the Dutch government and various international institutions such as the International Criminal Court. With the closure of nearby

Ypenburg Airport Ypenburg Airport (Dutch: Vliegveld Ypenburg), which later became Ypenburg Air Base was an airport in the Netherlands in Leidschenveen-Ypenburg near the city of The Hague. The ICAO code was EHYB. History The airfield was established in 1936, initia ...

in 1992 and Valkenburg Naval Air Base in 2006, Rotterdam The Hague Airport is now the only remaining airport in the area. The airport experienced significant growth in the 2010s, doubling passenger numbers from 1,000,858 in 2010 to 2,133,976 in 2019.

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights to and from Rotterdam/The Hague:

Statistics

OO-BIA DH114 Heron 1 Sabena RTM 10JAN68 (6812669405)

Passenger numbers

Busiest routes

Ground transportation

Bus

The airport is served by bus line 33, which runs between

Rotterdam Centraal Rotterdam Centraal railway station () is the main railway station of the city Rotterdam in South Holland, Netherlands. The station received an average of 112,000 passengers daily in 2019. The current station building, located at Station Square, ...

, the airport, and further to Meijersplein station. At Meijersplein, transfers are available to metro line E, with frequent service to Den Haag Centraal, Rotterdam Centraal and Rotterdam city center.

Car

The airport is situated next to the busy A13/ E19 motorway, which makes it easily accessible via car.

References

External links

* * * {{Airports in the Netherlands Airports in South Holland Buildings and structures in Rotterdam Transport in Rotterdam Transport in The Hague Airports established in 1956 1956 establishments in the Netherlands International airports in the Netherlands