Lübeck Airport

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Lübeck Airport (Template:Comma separated entries) is a minor German airport located Script error: No such module "convert". south of Lübeck, the second-largest city in the state of Schleswig-Holstein, and Script error: No such module "convert". northeast of Hamburg. It is the secondary airport for the Hamburg Metropolitan Region, after the much bigger Hamburg Airport,[1] and is used for domestic and some occasional charter flights. The airport was therefore sometimes called "Hamburg Lübeck" for marketing purposes.

History

Early years

File:Avro Lancaster - Lübeck - British Army in North-west Europe 1944-45 BU5892.jpg
An Avro Lancaster during "Operation Exodus" with British ex-POWs at Lübeck Airport in 1945
File:Douglas DC-3 - Lübeck - D 044287 Berlin Airlift.jpg
A Douglas DC-3 operating out of Lübeck Airport during the Berlin Airlift
File:Flughafen Lübeck - panoramio (1).jpg
Runway view
File:HL Damals – Flughafen – 2023 – 1.jpg
Terminal exterior

The construction of the airport began in 1916 and was completed in 1917 when it started its operations as a military airfield. At the end of World War I the airfield was shut down. In 1933 it was re-opened and extended by the Luftwaffe. During the Berlin Blockade after World War II, the Royal Air Force flew coal to Berlin and refugees to West Germany using Douglas Dakota aircraft.

Units;

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Development into a low-cost airport

After the re-unification of Germany, the airport started to grow slightly when several airlines started flying to Lübeck. In 1997, the arrival terminal was re-constructed and extended.

Ryanair started to operate from the airport in 2000 with the first flights to London-Stansted. Ryanair's route system expanded over the years until 2009. Wizz Air started operations in 2006 with flights to Gdańsk, and later other eastern European destinations. Discussions about Ryanair opening a base at the airport were held since 2009 without results.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".

Infratil, an infrastructure investment company from New Zealand held a 90% shareholding from November 2005 until the end of October 2009, when it sold its shares back to the City of Lübeck.[15] The new principal operator, Flughafen Lübeck GmbH, had been searching for an investor since then, when in 2013 the airport was sold to a private investor.[16]

In 2010, both the financial crisis and the eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull led to a general decrease in passenger numbers and destinations.

A new ILS CAT II system went operational in February 2014, allowing planes to operate at the airport in more difficult weather conditions.[17] As of March 2014, there were four lawsuits active against a further expansion of the airport.[16]

Bankruptcy

On 23 April 2014 Lübeck Airport filed for bankruptcy.[18] A few days earlier it had been reported that the owner, which bought the airport in 2013, had pulled out again.[19] The airport continued to operate while the liquidator reviewed possible strategies.[20] In July 2014, the bankrupt airport was sold to Chinese investor PuRen Germany GmbH, a subsidiary of PuRen Group.[21]

In June 2014 Ryanair announced it would leave Lübeck Airport as of October 2014 due to the airport's uncertain future.[22] Soon this date was revised to July 2014, when the year-round route to Bergamo as well as the seasonal services to Palma de Mallorca and Pisa ceased. Meanwhile, Ryanair announced it would start new routes from Hamburg Airport instead.[23]

In September 2015, the airport's new owner, the German subsidiary of the Chinese PuRen Group, also declared bankruptcy. The state of Schleswig-Holstein had already announced it would not invest in the airport. New investors were sought and operations would be maintained until further notice.[24] As of January 2016, the selection process for a new owner of the airport was still ongoing.[25]

In March 2016, Wizz Air announced that it would cease all operations to and from Lübeck by 15 April 2016, leaving the airport without any scheduled passenger services. The routes to Gdańsk, Kyiv–Zhulyany and Skopje were relocated to Hamburg Airport,[26] while the flights to Riga as well as the newly established route to Sofia ceased without replacement. The last scheduled commercial flight, a Wizz Air service to Sofia, left Lübeck at 20:05 local time on 15 April 2016.[27]

Resumption of operations

In January 2020, Lübeck Airport announced plans to start a virtual airline, with scheduled flights to Stuttgart and Munich from 1 June 2020. For this purpose, an ATR 72-500 was purchased, which is flown under the Lübeck Air brand and was then operated by Air Alsie. Flights eventually began on 17 August 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[28]

In March 2023, Lübeck Air announced it would end its ATR flights and seek to start jet operations with another airline. They also published a revised route network focusing on more leisure destinations, ending the route to Stuttgart Airport.[29] In September 2023, Lübeck Air announced the suspension of all flights for the upcoming winter season, leaving Lübeck Airport without scheduled operations.[30] Later, Lübeck Air then confirmed it would not resume its own operations for the foreseeable future, depending on cooperation with other airlines from Lübeck Airport for 2024 instead.[31]

In 2024, Ryanair announced it would return to Lübeck after a ten-year hiatus, inaugurating scheduled flights to London, Málaga and Palma de Mallorca in 2025.[32]

Facilities

Lübeck Airport features one small terminal building, containing check-in facilities, a shop and some restaurants.[33] The apron features three stands for walk-boarding, which are suitable for mid-sized aircraft such as the Airbus A320, as well as some stands for smaller general aviation aircraft.

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate regular scheduled flights at Lübeck Airport:[34]

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Statistics

Passengers
2000 184,622
2001 Increase 231,094
2002 Increase 270,188
2003 Increase 539,580
2004 Increase 598,777
2005 Increase 715,731
2006 Decrease 677,638
2007 Decrease 612,858
2008 Decrease 534,509
2009 Increase 688,302
2010 Decrease 537,835
2011 Decrease 344,068
2012 Increase 359,974
2013 Increase 367,252
2014 Decrease 168,593
Source: ADV,[35] Lübeck Airport[36]

Ground transportation

File:Lübeck Flughafen.jpg
Lübeck Airport station with a local train towards Kiel

Car

Lübeck Airport can be reached via motorways A1 which leads towards Hamburg and A20 which runs to the east through Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (exit Lübeck-Süd).

Bus

The local bus line 6 runs every 30 minutes and connects the airport with Lübeck's main bus station ("ZOB").

Train

Regional trains run every hour between Kiel and Lüneburg, stopping at the airport's own station Lübeck-Flughafen as well as Lübeck main station. Connecting trains are available at Lübeck Hauptbahnhof or in Büchen to Hamburg and other destinations.

See also

References

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  1. ↑ Hamburg Lubeck Airport Guide – Hamburg Template:Webarchive. Travel-library.com. Retrieved on 23 May 2014.
  2. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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  12. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  13. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  14. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  15. ↑ Sale of Lübeck Airport Template:Webarchive
  16. ↑ a b Klage gegen Flughafenausbau in Lübeck beschäftigt bald Gericht. airliners.de. Retrieved on 23 May 2014.
  17. ↑ ILS CAT II am Flughafen Lübeck erfolgreich in Betrieb gegangen. airliners.de. Retrieved on 23 May 2014.
  18. ↑ Template:In lang Blankensee ist pleite: Nach Führungs-Chaos: Flughafen Lübeck insolvent – Wirtschafts-News – FOCUS Online – Nachrichten. Focus.de (23 April 2014). Retrieved on 23 May 2014.
  19. ↑ Template:In lang Bruchlandung für Lübeck. shz.de. Retrieved on 23 May 2014.
  20. ↑ Luftfahrt-Nachrichten und -Community. aero.de (25 April 2014). Retrieved on 23 May 2014.
  21. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  22. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  23. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  24. ↑ airliners.de - Betrieb am Flughafen Lübeck geht vorerst weiter (German) 2 October 2015
  25. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  26. ↑ aerotelegraph.com - "Lübeck loses all scheduled flights" 17 March 2016
  27. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  28. ↑ airliners.de (German) 22 July 2020
  29. ↑ aviation.direct (German) 9 March 2023
  30. ↑ airliners.de - "Lübeck Air temporarily suspends flight operations" (German) 28 September 2023
  31. ↑ aerotelegraph.com (German) 28 December 2023
  32. ↑ airliners.de - "Ryanair returns to Lübeck" (German) 6 December 2024
  33. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  34. ↑ flughafen-luebeck.de - Schedules (German) 8 September 2021
  35. ↑ adv.aero
  36. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".

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Bibliography

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External links

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