Zweibrücken Airport , or ''Flughafen Zweibrücken'' in

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 ...

, is a regional

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...

and former 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 ...

Zweibrücken Zweibrücken (; ; , ; literally translated as "Two Bridges") is a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Schwarzbach (Blies), Schwarzbach River. Name The name ''Zweibrücken'' means 'two bridges'; older forms of the name include Middl ...

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 was the smaller of the two passenger airports in the state of

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; ; ; ) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are ...

, the other being

Frankfurt-Hahn Airport Hahn Airporthahn-airport.de
retrieved 30 April 2025 () , also colloquially known and formerly officially br ...

. Zweibrücken currently only features

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations except for commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services for other ...

, since scheduled air services ceased in November 2014 due to the airport's financial difficulties.

History

Development into a civil airport

Zweibrücken Airport is located on the site of the former

Zweibrücken Air Base Zweibrücken Air Base was a NATO military air base in West Germany . It was located SSW of Kaiserslautern and SE of Zweibrücken. It was assigned to the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and the United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) during ...

which was closed in 1991 following the end of

Operation Desert Storm Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...

. The former site was reopened as a converted commercial airport on 1 September 1994. In 2006,

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 ...

began twice-daily service to

Berlin Schönefeld Airport Berlin Schönefeld Airport () was the secondary international airport of Berlin, the capital of Germany. It was located southeast of Berlin near the town of Schönefeld in the state of Brandenburg and bordered Berlin's southern boundary. It w ...

, but ceased them in 2011 due to expensive airports taxes. The airport also used to have regular scheduled service operated by

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 ...

London Stansted Airport Stansted Airport is an international airport serving London, the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It is located near Stansted Mountfitchet, Uttlesford, Essex, northeast of Central London. As London's Airports of London, third-bu ...

. The service was announced on 27 May 2008, but ceased already one year later in May 2009. 264,247 passengers used the airport in 2010, decreasing to 242,880 passengers in 2012. A twice per week service was operated between Zweibrücken and

Antalya Antalya is the fifth-most populous city in Turkey and the capital of Antalya Province. Recognized as the "capital of tourism" in Turkey and a pivotal part of the Turkish Riviera, Antalya sits on Anatolia's southwest coast, flanked by the Tau ...

Sky Airlines Sky Airlines was an airline which operated chartered flights. It was based in Antalya, Turkey, operating on behalf of tour operators on short and medium haul routes into Turkey. History The company was established in 2000 and started operation ...

until the airline ceased operations due to financial problems in 2013. These flights were replaced by

Atlasjet AtlasGlobal, named ''Atlasjet'' until 31 March 2015, was a Turkish airline headquartered in Istanbul, which operated scheduled domestic and international passenger services as well as charter flights, mostly out of its base at Istanbul Airpor ...

during summer 2013 season, and were taken over by

Freebird Airlines Freebird Airlines (legally ''Hürkuş Hava Yolu Taşımacılık ve Ticaret A.Ş.''), a subsidiary of Gözen Holding, is an international airline registered in Turkey and Malta. Primarily focusing on European countries, it operates scheduled and c ...

for summer 2014. On 3 November 2013,

Air Berlin Air Berlin plc & Co. Luftverkehrs KG (), branded as airberlin or airberlin.com, was a major German airline. At its peak, it was Germany's second-largest airline after Lufthansa, as well as Europe's tenth-largest airline in terms of passengers c ...

stopped its weekly summer seasonal route 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 ...

on behalf of TUI, and were replaced by

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 ...

and

Germania Germania ( ; ), also more specifically called Magna Germania (English: ''Great Germania''), Germania Libera (English: ''Free Germania''), or Germanic Barbaricum to distinguish it from the Roman provinces of Germania Inferior and Germania Superio ...

for the 2014 summer season. In July 2014,

inaugurated the new seasonal route to

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

, the airport's third destination in Turkey after

and

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

. TUIfly operated eight routes out of Zweibrücken Airport, making it one of their focus cities.

Bankruptcy

In July 2014, it was reported that the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

decided that up to 56 million Euros of subsidies for the airport were illegal and needed to be paid back. Due to this decision, on 24 July, Zweibrücken Airport filed for

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...

. One of the reasons for the Commission's decision is the close proximity to

Saarbrücken Airport Saarbrücken Airport , or ''Flughafen Saarbrücken'' or ''Ensheim Airport'' in German language, German, is a minor international airport in Saarbrücken, the capital of the Germany, German state of Saarland. It features flights to major cities th ...

, which exists much longer. While it was planned to keep the airport operating for

operations, all commercial passenger operations were expected to cease by the end of the 2014 summer schedule.

decided to provide financial support for the airport to guarantee uninterrupted operations until the end of their summer schedule in November 2014. However, in September 2014, TUIfly announced the closure of their Zweibrücken base as of 8 November 2014. As a replacement, several of their eight scheduled leisure routes, for example to

and

Gran Canaria Gran Canaria (, ; ), also Grand Canary Island, is the third-largest and second-most-populous island of the Canary Islands, a Spain, Spanish archipelago off the Atlantic coast of Northwest Africa. the island had a population of that constitut ...

, will be relocated to nearby

. Additionally,

Pegasus Airlines Pegasus Airlines () (), sometimes stylized as Flypgs, is a Turkish low-cost airline headquartered in the Kurtköy area of Pendik, Turkey, with bases at several Turkish airports. History Foundation and early years On 1 December 1989, two b ...

' scheduled seasonal service to

ceased by 29 September 2014 without resumption in 2015. The few other remaining summer seasonal charter flights, for example those of

Air VIA Air VIA was a charter airline with its head office in Sofia, Bulgaria, that operated charter flights on behalf of European tour operators such as TUI and Thomas Cook. Most Air VIA flights operated from European destinations into Varna Airport an ...

Burgas Burgas (, ), sometimes transliterated as Bourgas, is the second largest city on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast in the region of Northern Thrace and the List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, fourth-largest city in Bulgaria after Sofia, Plovdiv, an ...

, moved to Saarbrücken for the 2015 summer season as well. The last scheduled flight took off from Zweibrücken at 13:40 p.m. on 3 November to

Fuerteventura Fuerteventura () is one of the Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean, geographically part of Macaronesia, and politically part of Spain. It is located away from the coast of North Africa. The island was declared a biosphere reserve by UNESCO i ...

, also remaining as the last

operation at the airport and marking the closure of its focus city. Since that day, all scheduled operations at the airport ceased for the then upcoming entire winter season while most of the staff has been laid off due to a lack of funding to keep operations running.

Facilities

Zweibrücken Airport features a small terminal building equipped with three aircraft stands next to it. As there are no

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, walk-boarding is used. Before bankruptcy, the airport could handle mid-sized aircraft 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 the

Airbus A320 family The Airbus A320 family is a series of narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus. The A320 was launched in March 1984, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air France. The first member of the fami ...

Airlines and destinations

All scheduled operations at Zweibrücken Airport ceased by 3 November 2014 due to a lack of funding for the upcoming winter season. The airport used to feature scheduled and charter flights to leisure destinations around the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

. There was no resumption of services for the 2015 summer season as all former airlines at Zweibrücken either terminated their services to the area, such as

, or relocated their routes to Saarbrücken instead. The nearest other minor international airport is

, approximately away.

Statistics

Ground transportation

Zweibrücken Airport is only accessible by road. It can be reached via motorway ''A8'' (exit ''Contwig, Flughafen, Bitche (F)'') which leads to

Saarbrücken Saarbrücken (; Rhenish Franconian: ''Sabrigge'' ; ; ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of cities and towns in Germany, city of the state of Saarland, Germany. Saarbrücken has 181,959 inhabitants and is Saarland's administrative, commerci ...

and

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

and from

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

directly via federal highway ''L700''.flughafen-zweibrücken.de - Ihr Weg zu uns
Additionally, the local bus route ''226'' connects the airport with Zweibrücken city centre including Zweibrücken station.

Zweibrücken Circuit

From 1996 to 1999, the airport held various

Super Tourenwagen Cup The Super Tourenwagen Cup, or German Supertouring Championship, was a touring car racing series held between 1994 and 1999 in Germany. The championship was established when BMW and Audi both left the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft (DTM) in 199 ...

, German F3, VW Beetle Cup and Pro Superbike races but stopped hosting national championships due to financial reasons. The track has hosted the Historisches Flugplatzrennen, a historic car track day event, as recently as September 3rd 2023.

Lap records

The fastest official race lap records at the Zweibrücken Air Base Circuit are listed as:

References

External links

Official website
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zweibrucken Airport Airports in Rhineland-Palatinate Zweibrücken