Weeze (Niederrhein/Weeze) Airport
Many airlines have the habit of calling Weeze airport Düsseldorf / Rhine or Düsseldorf-Weeze, which has often led to confusion with passengers in recent years. Duesseldorf Airport is about 70 to 75 km (about 45 miles) to the southeast.
- URL: Weeze (Niederrhein/Weeze) (NRN)
- Time zone: GMT 1
- Service telephone: +49 28 37-66 61 11
- Address: Flughafen Weeze-Niederrhein, Flughafen-Ring 60, 47652 Weeze
- Operating company: Flughafen Niederrhein GmbH
- Parking: Yes; paid parking – about 7000 short and long term spaces.
- Nearby cities: Nijmegen (32 km), Moers (39 km), Krefeld (42 km), Arnhem (45 km), Duisburg (46 km), Mönchengladbach (49 km), Eindhoven (50 km), Oberhausen (51 km), Bottrop (54 km), Mülheim (55 km)
- Directions by car: Motorway A57 exit Uedem/Weeze or Goch, then follow the signs to the airport.
- Stations: The nearest stations are in Weeze and Kevelaer.
- Flight distribution on the days of the week: Monday (13.86%), Tuesday (12.31%), Wednesday (14.73%), Thursday (13.69%), Friday (13.69%), Saturday (14.90%), Sunday (16.81%)
- Alternative spelling: Веце, Weeze - Niederrhein, ヴェーツェ, 韦策
Most popular destinations from Weeze (Niederrhein/Weeze) (Flights per week )
- Marrakech-Menara (8, 9,52 %)
- Edinburgh (6, 7,14 %)
- Palma de Mallorca (6, 7,14 %)
- Nador (4, 4,76 %)
- Zagreb-Pleso (4, 4,76 %)
- Tangier-Boukhalef (4, 4,76 %)
- Tenerife South- Reina Sofia (4, 4,76 %)
- Thessaloniki Macedonia (4, 4,76 %)
- Rabat-Sale (4, 4,76 %)
- Oviedo, Asturias (4, 4,76 %)
- other (42.88 %)
Location
The airport is about 6 km or 4 miles southwest of Weeze and about 70 km or 45 miles from Düsseldorf Airport. Motorists can reach the airport on the 57/E31 motorway, leaving at exit No.3 "Goch" and / or using the roads 9 and 361.
Passengers arriving by train please take the regional express to the central station in Weeze or Kevelaer and then use the shuttle buses. Public transport is also available: from Kevelaer the number 73 bus operates every day at 60 minute intervals and from Weeze, the SW1 bus line goes directly to the airport. All current timetable details are available either locally or on the Internet. There are also regular shuttle bus services, eg. to / from Amsterdam, Arnhem, Brühl, Duisburg, Düsseldorf, Essen, Cologne, Moers, Nijmegen, Utrecht and Venray.
History
In 1953, British allies built the military base on the “unused” airport of the German Air Force Weeze / Laarbruch and stationed several combat and transport aircraft there during the following years. This site was continuously expanded until 1992. In 1993, after the announcement of the Allies’ withdrawal, the current airport manager Niederrhein GmbH immediately drew up a utilisation concept in order to compensate for the withdrawal of British troops and the resulting jobs losses. In 1999, the Royal Air Force eventually entirely withdrew and airport operations came to a complete standstill during the next four years.
Niederrhein airport was newly opened for civilian use in May 2003. In 2004, the first name change took place: the name Airport Düsseldorf-Weeze was chosen to suggest a proximity to the large Düsseldorf airport. This name change was forbidden in 2005 by the Cologne Regional Court. Another attempt by the airport operators to then call the airport Düsseldorf-Regional was also declined. With the threat of administrative fines, the present name Weeze was then finally agreed upon.
The current success of the airport is largely due to the low-cost carrier Ryanair, which was also the first to start regular scheduled flights from Weeze. Ryanair still refers to the airport by its rather confusing and false name Dusseldorf (Weeze), which unfortunately is also part of Ryanair’s success strategy: on its booking page Ryanair uses wrong names for many of its destinations, such as Hahn (Ryan = Frankfurt-Hahn), Girona (Ryan = Barcelona), Torp (Ryan = Oslo), Treviso (Ryan = Venice) or Bergamo (Ryan = Milan), suggesting a proximity to many of these well known cities, whereas the airports themselves are actually in remote areas.