Münster Osnabrück Airport , formerly ''Münster/Osnabrück International Airport'' and ''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. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports, and feature longer runways and have faciliti ...

in the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

state of

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

. 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 (; ) is an independent city#Germany, 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 ...

and south of

Osnabrück Osnabrück (; ; archaic English: ''Osnaburg'') is a city in Lower Saxony in western Germany. 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 of 168 ...

. The airport serves the area of the northern

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 ...

, western and southwestern

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...

Emsland Landkreis Emsland () is a districts of Germany, district in Lower Saxony, Germany named after the river Ems (river), Ems. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts of Leer (district), Leer, Cloppenburg (district), Cloppenbur ...

Westphalia Westphalia (; ; ) 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 region is almost identical with the h ...

and parts of the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

and features flights to some European city and leisure destinations.

History

Early years

On 21 December 1966, the cities of

, and

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 ...

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 (; ) is a type of Juridical person, legal entity in German-speaking countries. It is equivalent to a (Sàrl) in the Romandy, French-speaking region of Switzerland and to a (Sagl) in the Ticino, Italian-speaking region of Switzerland. It is a ...

. 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 the site was within a few hundred metres of the Dortmund-Ems Canal which had been bombed during World War II, 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 the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces ...

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

British Army of the Rhine British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) was the name given to British Army occupation forces in the Rhineland, West Germany, after the First and Second World Wars, and during the Cold War, becoming part of NATO's Northern Army Group (NORTHAG) tasked ...

(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 worn over other clothing to cover the front of the body to protect from liquids. They have several purposes, most commonly as a functional accessory that protects clothes and skin from stains and marks. However, other typ ...

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 in 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 and 1988, 2006–2008, and 2012–2016), is the capital and largest city of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. It is ...

took place in 1973.

Development since 1980s

On 29 October 1984,

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

started to serve the route from

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

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 Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology, and social movement about supporting life, habitats, and surroundings. While environmentalism focuses more on the environmental and nature-related aspects of green ideology and politics, ecologi ...

, 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. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

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 defines details 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 Fe ...

was realized in November 2010. The cities of

and

and the

Steinfurt Steinfurt (; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Steinfurt. From –1806, it was the capital of the County of Steinfurt. Geography Steinfurt is situated north-west of Münster, North Rhine-Westp ...

district planned 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. In 2023, the airport announced a revised

corporate design A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's goods or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create and ...

, subsequently dropping the name annex ''International''.

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 has five aircraft stands which are equipped with

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

Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is an American narrow-body aircraft, 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 t ...

and Airbus 320 family up to the

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

. 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

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 Steinfurt (district) Osnabrück Münster 1969 establishments in West Germany