Bayreuth Airport , also called ''Verkehrslandeplatz Bayreuth'' in German, is a general-aviation

non-towered airport In aviation, a non-towered airport is an airport without a control tower, or air traffic control (ATC) unit. The vast majority of the world's airports are non-towered. In the United States, there are close to 20,000 non-towered airports compared ...

serving the city of Bayreuth,

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 was formerly known as ''Bindlacher Berg Airport.''

Location

The airfield is located on a plateau (the so-called ''Bindlacher Berg'') in Bindlach 6.3 km (3,9 miles, 3.4 nm) northeast of the city centre of Bayreuth, close to the interchange of German motorways A9 and A70. Public transport to Bayreuth is provided by Verkehrsverbund Großraum Nürnberg (VGN) with busses.

Facilities

The airport's main runway (06/24) for planes is suitable for weighing up to 5,700 kg (up to 10,000 kg). It is equipped with PAPI lights and

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioi ...

-based

RNAV Area navigation (RNAV, usually pronounced as "''ar-nav"'') is a method of instrument flight rules (IFR) navigation that allows an aircraft to choose any course within a network of navigation beacons, rather than navigate directly to and from t ...

procedures. In addition, there are three parallel runways (S1 through S3) with grass surface meant for gliders. Several hangars, refuelling with Avgas 100LL or

Jet A-1 Jet fuel or aviation turbine fuel (ATF, also abbreviated avtur) is a type of aviation fuel designed for use in aircraft powered by gas-turbine engines. It is colorless to straw-colored in appearance. The most commonly used fuels for commercial av ...

and special firefighting vehicles are available. In addition, the airport features a small terminal building and a tower.

History

Before

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 ...

, another

aerodrome An aerodrome (Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for publ ...

, closer to the city, served Bayreuth. The area where the current airport is located was first used for a

gliding competition Some of the pilots in the sport of gliding take part in gliding competitions. These are usually racing competitions, but there are also aerobatic contests and on-line league tables. History of competitions In the early days, the main goal w ...

in 1930. In the 1930s, the German

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 ...

constructed an airbase in that location. However, on Adolf Hitler's personal request, no combat units were garrisoned in Bayreuth. Instead, the airbase was used for training purposes. In April 1945, the airfield was bombed and conquered by the

United States Armed Forces The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is ...

. The

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

established a sizeable garrison, ''Christensen Barracks'', within the perimeters of the former airbase, which existed until 1992. After the end of the war, the ''Luftsportgemeinschaft Bayreuth (''which translates to ''aero sports club)'' was formed. By 1953 it was granted the permit to create a small airstrip in the southeastern area of the former airbase. In 1973, the City of Bayreuth took over operations on the airfield. In the following years, the airfield was reclassified as ''Verkehrslandeplatz'' (regional airfield) and upgraded with additional buildings; this also marked the commencement of scheduled connections to

Frankfurt Airport Frankfurt Airport (; german: link=no, Flughafen Frankfurt Main , also known as ''Rhein-Main-Flughafen'') is a major international airport located in Frankfurt, the fifth-largest city of Germany and one of the world's leading financial centres ...

. By 1979, a control zone and IFR procedures had been established. In 1982, the German gliding championship contest took place in Bayreuth. That same year, runway 06/24 was extended to 1055 m x 30 m. Four years later, the City of Bayreuth purchased the (hitherto only leased) grounds of the airport from the

federal government of Germany The Federal Cabinet or Federal Government (german: link=no, Bundeskabinett or ') is the chief executive body of the Federal Republic of Germany. It consists of the Federal Chancellor and cabinet ministers. The fundamentals of the cabinet's or ...

. In 1992, runwas 06/24 was extended to a length of 1,206 m. In 1995, the City of Bayreuth purchased additional land to the North of the existing airport, extending the airport's area to 55.511 ha and allowing for the construction of additional runways for gliders. Bayreuth Airport hosted the World Gliding championship in 1999. After the last scheduled connection was discontinued in 2001, parts of the infrastructure have been dismantled: In particular, the airspace around the airport was redesignated to (then class F, later) class G from D, IFR procedures now rely on

based on

satellite navigation A satellite navigation or satnav system is a system that uses satellites to provide autonomous geo-spatial positioning. It allows satellite navigation devices to determine their location (longitude, latitude, and altitude/elevation) to high pr ...

Airlines and destinations

Bayreuth no longer sees any scheduled or chartered commercial flight operations. In the 1960s, there were limited scheduled flights to/from

for passengers attending the Bayreuth Festival. For these flights,

Dornier Do 28 The type designation Dornier Do 28 comprises two different twin-engine STOL utility aircraft, manufactured by Dornier Flugzeugbau GmbH. Most of them served with the German Air Force and '' Marineflieger'' and other air forces around the world in ...

were operated. Owing to lack of demand, this service was discontinued in 1965. From 1973 to 1998, regular flights to Frankfurt and Hof–Plauen Airport were operated on De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otters, for a short period of time also scheduled flights to

Düsseldorf Airport Düsseldorf Airport (german: link=no, Flughafen Düsseldorf, ; until March 2013 ''Düsseldorf International Airport''; ) is the international airport of Düsseldorf, the capital of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is about north ...

were offered. Starting in 1986, Nürnberger Flugdienst (now

Eurowings Eurowings GmbH is a German low-cost carrier headquartered in Düsseldorf and a wholly owned subsidiary of the Lufthansa Group. Founded in 1996, it serves a network of domestic and European destinations and formerly also operated some long-hau ...

) took over the flights on the line Hof-Bayreuth-Frankfurt, where it operated

Dornier 228 The Dornier 228 is a twin-turboprop STOL utility aircraft, designed and first manufactured by Dornier GmbH (later DASA Dornier, Fairchild-Dornier) from 1981 until 1998. Two hundred and forty-five were built in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany. In 19 ...

, ATR 42 and

ATR 72 The ATR 72 is a twin-engine turboprop, short-haul regional airliner developed and produced in France and Italy by aircraft manufacturer ATR (french: Avions de transport régional or it, Aerei da Trasporto Regionale), a joint venture formed ...

. From 1998 to 2001, this route was served by

Augsburg Airways Augsburg Airways was a regional airline from Germany. A member of Team Lufthansa and its successor Lufthansa Regional, it operated feeder services at Munich Airport on behalf of Lufthansa. History Early years The company was founded in 19 ...

as part of the Team Lufthansa franchise. Since those flights ended, Bayreuth has been left without any commercial air traffic.

References

External links