Cologne Bonn Airport () is an

international airport An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports, and feature longer runways and have faciliti ...

in north-western

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. It serves the country's fourth-largest city

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

, as well as

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

, the former capital of

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

. With approximately 12.4 million passengers passing through it in 2017, it is the seventh-largest passenger airport in Germany and the third-largest in terms of cargo operations. By traffic units, which combines cargo and passengers, the airport is in fifth position in Germany. As of March 2015, Cologne Bonn Airport had services to 115 passenger destinations in 35 countries. The airport is named after Cologne native

Konrad Adenauer Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer (5 January 1876 – 19 April 1967) was a German statesman and politician who served as the first Chancellor of Germany, chancellor of West Germany from 1949 to 1963. From 1946 to 1966, he was the first leader of th ...

, the first post-war Chancellor of West Germany. The facility covers and contains three runways. The airport is located in the district of

Porz Porz () is a borough, or '' Stadtbezirk,'' of Cologne, Germany. It is situated on the east side of the Rhine river in the south-east of the city. Porz is the largest borough of Cologne by area, with 78.92 km2 and has 113,500 inhabitants. ...

and is surrounded by Wahner Heide, a

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geologic ...

. The airport is centrally located in the

Cologne Bonn Region The Cologne Bonn Region (German: ''Region Köln/Bonn'') is a metropolitan area in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), Germany, covering the cities of Cologne, Bonn and Leverkusen, as well as the districts of Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis, Oberbergischer ...

southeast of the Cologne city centre and northeast of

. Cologne Bonn Airport is one of the country's few 24-hour airports and serves as a hub for

Eurowings Eurowings GmbH is a Germany, German low-cost carrier headquartered in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, and a wholly owned subsidiary of the Lufthansa Group. Founded in 1996, it serves a network of domestic and European destinations and main ...

FedEx Express FedEx Express is a major American cargo airline based in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. As of 2023, it is the world's List of largest airlines, largest cargo airline in terms of fleet size and freight tons flown. It is the namesake and leadi ...

and

UPS Airlines UPS Airlines is a major American cargo airline based in Louisville, Kentucky, US. One of the largest cargo airlines worldwide World's largest airlines#Scheduled freight tonne-kilometers (millions), in terms of freight volume flown, UPS Airlines f ...

as well as a focus city for several leisure and low-cost airlines. It is also a host of a training centre for the German ( DLR) and European ( EAC)

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a List of human spaceflight programs, human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member of a spa ...

programmes, part of the

European Space Agency The European Space Agency (ESA) is a 23-member International organization, international organization devoted to space exploration. With its headquarters in Paris and a staff of around 2,547 people globally as of 2023, ESA was founded in 1975 ...

. Cologne Bonn airport is only south of larger

Düsseldorf Airport Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the seventh-largest city in Germany, with a 2022 population of 629,047. The Düsse ...

, the main airport of the

Rhine-Ruhr The Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region () is the Metropolitan regions in Germany, largest metropolitan region in Germany, with over ten million inhabitants. A wikt:polycentric, polycentric conurbation with several major urban concentrations, the reg ...

region, and also competes with

Frankfurt Airport Frankfurt Airport ( ) , is Germany's busiest international airport by passenger numbers, located in Frankfurt, Germany's fifth-largest city. Its official name according to the German Aeronautical Information Publication is Frankfurt Main Airpor ...

, Germany's largest international airport, which can be reached from Cologne within 47 minutes by the

Intercity Express Intercity Express (commonly known as ICE () and running under this category) is a high-speed rail system in Germany. It also serves destinations in Austria, France, Belgium, Switzerland and the Netherlands as part of cross-border services. It ...

high-speed train. The airport is jointly owned by the

City of Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

(31.12%), the

Federal Republic of Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen constituent states have a total population of over 84 ...

(30.94%), the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (30.94%), the City of Bonn (6.06%) and two counties:

Rhein-Sieg-Kreis The Rhein-Sieg-Kreis () is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the south of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis, Oberbergischer Kreis, Altenkirchen (district), Altenkirchen, Neuwied (district), Neuwied, Ah ...

(0.59%) and

Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis The (, ) is a Kreis (Districts of Germany, district) in the Cologne Bonn Region of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Mettmann (district), Kreis Mettman, Oberbergischer Kreis and Rhein-Sieg, and the district-free cities C ...

(0.35%).

History

20th century

In 1938, the first airfield was built on site for the German

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

. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

the British military took over and expanded the airport (as RAF Wahn - B-119). A 1,866 m runway was built in this period.koeln-bonn-airport.de - "History"
(German) retrieved 24 November 2022 The following squadrons used RAF Wahn: 2 Squadron between 28 June 1948 and 15 September 1949 then again between 1 July 1953 and 28 October 1955, 4 Squadron between 13 November 1947 and 1 March 1948 then the squadron alternating with RAF Lubeck until 19 September 1949, 11 Squadron between 15 September 1948 and 17 September 1949, 14 Squadron between 1 April 1946 and 16 September 1949, 17 Squadron between 1 June 1956 and 3 April 1957, 21 Squadron between 3 and 26 September 1946, 68 Squadron between 1 January 1952 and 22 July 1957, 69 Squadron between 31 March 1946 and 7 November 1947, 87 Squadron between 1 January 1952 and 2 July 1957, 98 Squadron between 15 March 1946 and 19 September 1949, 107 Squadron between 3 September 1946 and 15 September 1948, 128 Squadron between 11 and 31 March 1946, 180 Squadron between 8 and 31 March 1946 & 305 Squadron between 11 March and 15 October 1946. In 1950 the airport was opened for civilian air traffic to serve both Cologne and

's then new capital,

, superseding the former

Cologne Butzweilerhof Airport Butzweilerhof was an airport of Cologne in West Germany. It was established as a training airfield in 1912, and saw airline service from 1922 until the 1950s. It was replaced by the Cologne Bonn Airport. The airport buildings from 1935-36 are ...

. The first scheduled international route was London-Cologne/Bonn-Berlin operated by BEA, inaugurated on 1 January 1951. A second and third runway was opened in 1954 and 1961 subsequently. That same year

Lufthansa Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), trading as the Lufthansa Group, is a German aviation group. Its major and founding subsidiary airline Lufthansa German Airlines, branded as Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. It ranks List of largest airlin ...

inaugurated the first scheduled intercontinental service from Cologne/Bonn to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. The new passenger terminal, which still exists today as Terminal 1, was inaugurated in 1970. The airport's passenger and freight facilities have been extended substantially during the 1970s. In 1978, the airport handled more than 2 million passengers for the first time. Cologne Bonn Airport was chosen by

United Parcel Service United Parcel Service, Inc. (UPS) is an American multinational corporation, multinational package delivery, shipping & receiving and supply chain management company founded in 1907. Originally known as the American Messenger Company specializi ...

(UPS) in 1986 as the location for their European hub.

TNT Express TNT Express was an international courier delivery services company with its headquarters in Hoofddorp, Netherlands. It was acquired by FedEx. History The namesake Thomas Nationwide Transport grandfather company was originally started in 1946 w ...

followed in 1988. By 1990, the airport handled three million passengers per year. In the mid-1990s the airport started another major expansion program. Several new parking lots, a new control tower and a second terminal were built, and in 2004 a new long-distance railway station connecting the airport with

InterCityExpress Intercity Express (commonly known as ICE () and running under this category) is a high-speed rail system in Germany. It also serves destinations in Austria, France, Belgium, Switzerland and the Netherlands as part of cross-border services. It ...

trains was opened.

Cultural significance

The airport's design and atmosphere have also influenced popular culture. In 1977, musician

Brian Eno Brian Peter George Jean-Baptiste de la Salle Eno (, born 15 May 1948), also mononymously known as Eno, is an English musician, songwriter, record producer, visual artist, and activist. He is best known for his pioneering contributions to ambien ...

was inspired by the architecture and ambiance of Cologne Bonn Airport while waiting for a flight. He later described it as "a very beautiful building ..The light was beautiful, everything was beautiful, except they were playing awful music." This experience led him to create his groundbreaking 1978 ambient music album "

Music for Airports Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all human societies. Definitions of mu ...

" which was designed to "induce calm and a space to think" in airport environments. Eno sought to create background music that, unlike the "lightweight" music typically played in such spaces, would complement the architectural aesthetics of modern airports like Cologne Bonn.

Developments since the 2000s

Coinciding with the start of several

low-cost airlines A low-cost carrier (LCC) or low-cost airline, also called a budget, or discount carrier or airline, is an airline that is operated with an emphasis on minimizing operating costs. It sacrifices certain traditional airline luxuries for cheaper fa ...

in Germany, Cologne/Bonn opened new capacities. This enabled the airport to make competitive offers to the airlines. Consequently,

Germanwings Germanwings GmbH was a German low-cost airline wholly owned by Lufthansa which operated under the Eurowings brand. It was based in Cologne with hubs at Cologne Bonn Airport, Stuttgart Airport, Hamburg Airport, Berlin Tegel Airport, Munich ...

and

TUIfly TUI fly Deutschland (legally TUIfly GmbH), formerly ''TUIfly'', is a German leisure airline owned by the travel and tourism company TUI Group. It is headquartered at Hannover Airport with bases at several other German airports. TUI fly Deutsch ...

started operations from Cologne/Bonn as their hub in the fall of 2002. As a result, the number of passengers in 2003 rose by 43% compared to 2002. These airlines were joined by

easyJet EasyJet plc (styled as easyJet) is a British multinational low-cost airline group headquartered at London Luton Airport. It operates domestic and international scheduled services on 927 routes in more than 34 countries via its affiliate airlin ...

in late 2003 and

Wizz Air {{Infobox airline , airline = Wizz Air Holdings Plc. , IATA = , ICAO = , callsign = , aoc = , hubs = , focus_cities = , frequent_flyer = {{ubl, class=nowrap , Wizz All You Can Fly , Wizz Discount Club , Wizz Privilege Pass , ...

in June 2006. Also, the

Canadian Forces The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF; , FAC) are the unified Military, military forces of Canada, including sea, land, and air commands referred to as the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army and the Royal Canadian Air Force. Under the ''National Defenc ...

began to use the airport as a staging area to move troops and supplies in support of humanitarian missions and possible anti-terrorism roles. In 2006, the Brazilian airline BRA provided a twice a week connection to Rio de Janeiro–Galeão, which was discontinued in April 2007 due to problems with the airline. Also in 2006, a daily

transatlantic flight A transatlantic flight is the flight of an aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean from Europe, Africa, South Asia, or the Middle East to North America, South America, or ''vice versa''. Such flights have been made by fixed-wing aircraft, airships, bal ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

Newark Liberty International Airport Newark Liberty International Airport is a major international airport serving the New York metropolitan area. The airport straddles the boundary between the cities of Newark, New Jersey, Newark in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County and E ...

Continental Airlines Continental Airlines (simply known as Continental) was a major airline in the United States that operated from 1934 until it merged with United Airlines in 2012. It had ownership interests and brand partnerships with several carriers. Continen ...

was established, operating with a Boeing 757-200. This route was discontinued on 4 September 2008 due to a reduction in passenger numbers. Low-cost carriers

Ryanair Ryanair is an Irish Low-cost carrier#Ultra low-cost carrier, ultra low-cost airline group headquartered in Swords, County Dublin, Ireland. The parent company, Ryanair Holdings plc, includes subsidiaries Ryanair , Malta Air, Buzz (Ryanair), Buzz ...

and

Norwegian Air Shuttle Norwegian Air Shuttle Aksjeselskap, ASA, trading as Norwegian, is a Norway, Norwegian Low-cost carrier, low-cost airline and Scandinavia's second-largest airline, behind Scandinavian Airlines. It is the fourth largest low-cost carrier in Europe ...

began service to Cologne/Bonn in May 2012. In April 2014, Ryanair announced the opening of their fifth German base at Cologne/Bonn Airport for October 2014. In December 2014,

announced it would base

' new long-haul operations at Cologne Bonn Airport with flights to

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost region of Africa. No definition is agreed upon, but some groupings include the United Nations geoscheme for Africa, United Nations geoscheme, the intergovernmental Southern African Development Community, and ...

and the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...

to start by the end of 2015. Meanwhile,

Condor Condor is the common name for two species of New World vultures, each in a monotypic genus. The name derives from the Quechua language, Quechua ''kuntur''. They are the largest flying land birds in the Western Hemisphere. One species, the And ...

cancelled their service to

Varadero Varadero (), also referred to as ''Playa Azul'' (Blue Beach), is a resort town in the province of Matanzas, Cuba, and one of the largest resort areas in the Caribbean. Varadero Beach is rated one of the world's best beaches in TripAdvisor's Travel ...

after only one season due to the expected competition. In February 2018,

announced the relocation of all long-haul operations from Cologne consisting of four

Airbus A330 The Airbus A330 is a wide-body airliner developed and produced by Airbus. Airbus began developing larger A300 derivatives in the mid–1970s, giving rise to the A330 twinjet as well as the Airbus A340 quadjet, and launched both designs along ...

aircraft to

by late October 2018 leaving the airport without any long-haul passenger routes again. In 2024,

announced it would terminate all routes from Cologne/Bonn, which it had served for ten years.

Facilities

Cologne Bonn Airport has two passenger terminals which are located directly beside each other.

Terminal 1

The older Terminal 1 is a 1970s building that sports large surfaces of bare concrete in its design. It features a u-shaped main building with shops, restaurants, check-in and service facilities and a visitors deck on its roof as well as the star-shaped piers B and C with five aircraft stands each plus a central airside hall between them added in 2004 with joint security-check facilities, more shops and restaurants as well as three additional stands. All ten stands at both piers feature

jet bridge A jet bridge is an enclosed connector which most commonly extends from an airport terminal gate to an airplane, and in some instances from a port to a boat or ship, allowing passengers to board and disembark without heading outside and being exp ...

s while the other three use walk-boarding. Also several bus-boarding stands are available at the apron. Terminal 1 is used by

, which occupy most of the landside check-in facilities,

and

Austrian Airlines Austrian Airlines AG, often shortened to Austrian or AUA, is the flag carrier of Austria and a subsidiary of Lufthansa, the flag carrier of Germany. The airline is headquartered on the grounds of Vienna International Airport in Schwechat where i ...

. Terminal 1 features its own direct connection to the railway station.

Terminal 2

Construction of Terminal 2 began in June 1997, and operations at the terminal commenced on 21 June 2000. It is located to the north of Terminal 1. Both feature separate check-in facilities but are connected through a landside walkway. As part of a plan-approval procedure the airport is currently seeking approval for building an airside connection between both terminals. Terminal 2 is a modern-style rectangular building made out of glass and steel which is equipped with eight stands with jet bridges as well as several stands for bus-boarding. It is used by several airlines such as

. Terminal 2 is also directly connected to the airports' railway station via the basement level. The terminal hosts an interdenominational prayer room on its base level.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

The following airlines offer regular scheduled and charter flights at Cologne Bonn Airport:

Cargo

Cologne Bonn Airport is a hub for

flugrevue.de - "Five years FedEx hub in Cologne/Bonn"
(German) 13 October 2015 and

,pressroom.ups.com - UPS Air Hub Cologne/Bonn Fact Sheet
retrieved 4 July 2020 which operates 140 flights per week at the airport alone.airlineroutemaps.com - UPS United Parcel Service
retrieved 4 July 2020

Military use

The German Air Force's Executive Transport Wing is based on the south-western side of the airport, adjacent to the Wahn Air Force Barracks. The military part of the airport is also used by the Canadian Forces as an operational support hub.

Statistics

Passenger destinations of Cologne Bonn Airport

Ground transportation

Train

Cologne/Bonn Airport station Cologne/Bonn Airport station () is a station at Cologne Bonn Airport in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It was built as part of the Cologne–Frankfurt high-speed rail line and opened in June 2004 on the approximately Cologne Ai ...

is a four-track railway station on a loop off the Cologne–Frankfurt high-speed line that connects Cologne Bonn Airport to long-distance trains at least once an hour per direction, most of them

ICE Ice is water that is frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 ° C, 32 ° F, or 273.15 K. It occurs naturally on Earth, on other planets, in Oort cloud objects, and as interstellar ice. As a naturally oc ...

services. The station lies directly across both terminals under a large glass roof and features direct connections to the basement of Terminal 2 as well as the check-in area at Terminal 1-C. The

S-Bahn The S-Bahn ( , ), , is a hybrid urban rail, urban–suburban rail system serving a metropolitan region predominantly in German language, German-speaking countries. Some of the larger S-Bahn systems provide service similar to rapid transit syst ...

line ''S 19'' to

Düren Düren (; Ripuarian language, Ripuarian: Düre) is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, between Aachen and Cologne, on the river Rur (river), Rur. History Roman era The area of Düren was part of Gallia Belgica, more specifically the ter ...

and regional train line '' RE 6'' to Minden (Westfalen) connects the airport station with via Cologne Main Station. '' RB 27'' between

Mönchengladbach Mönchengladbach (, ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in North Rhine-Westphalia, western Germany, west of the Rhine, halfway between Düsseldorf and the Netherlands, Dutch border. Geography Municipal subdivisions Since 2009, th ...

and

Koblenz Koblenz ( , , ; Moselle Franconian language, Moselle Franconian: ''Kowelenz'') is a German city on the banks of the Rhine (Middle Rhine) and the Moselle, a multinational tributary. Koblenz was established as a Roman Empire, Roman military p ...

calls at the airport station as well.

Car

The airport has its own exit (named ''Flughafen'') on motorway A59 which links it to the city centres of Cologne and Bonn as well as the

Ruhrgebiet The Ruhr ( ; , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr Area, sometimes Ruhr District, Ruhr Region, or Ruhr Valley, is a wikt:polycentric, polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 1,160/k ...

Bus

Local bus lines also connect the airport with Cologne (route ''161'') and Bonn (route ''SB60''). On 28 October 2015, a new coach terminal opened and is used for remote bus services to other German cities and many other European countries.

Accidents and incidents

* On April 4, 1978, a

Spantax Spantax S.A. was a Spanish leisure airline headquartered in Madrid that operated from 6 October 1959 to 29 March 1988. Spantax was one of the first Spanish airlines to operate tourist charter flights between European and North American cities and ...

Convair 990 The Convair 990 Coronado is a retired American narrow-body four-engined jet airliner produced between 1961 and 1963 by the Convair division of American company General Dynamics. It was a stretched version of its earlier Convair 880 produced in ...

landing at Cologne Bonn Airport forgot to pull out the landing gear and the aircraft slid over the runway, resulting in the right wing catching fire. Two fire-fighting vehicles from the airport fire service that happened to be in the immediate vicinity probably prevented casualties in this accident. All 146 people on board escaped unharmed. * On June 7, 1993, a

Learjet 35 The Learjet Model 35 and Model 36 are a series of American multi-role business jets and military transport aircraft manufactured by Learjet between 1973 and 1993. When used by the United States Air Force, they carry the designation C-21A. Learj ...

A operated by Aero-Dienst crashed following a left engine failure at or near V2. The aircraft rolled to the left, contacted the ground beside the runway, levelled off, took off again and rolled left and inverted and impacted the ground. All four occupants were killed. Cause undetermined.

References

Citations

Bibliography

External links

Official website
* * {{Authority control Airports in North Rhine-Westphalia Buildings and structures in Cologne Transport in Cologne Porz Airports established in 1939 Airports established in 1957 Bases of the German Air Force 1939 establishments in Germany 1957 establishments in West Germany Space Shuttle Emergency Landing Sites