Weeze Airport or Niederrhein Airport is an airport situated 3.7 km (2.3 mi) southwest of the small municipality of Weeze

Weeze

Weeze is a municipality in the Lower Rhine region, in the north-western part of North Rhine-Westphalia in the district of Kleve in the region of Düsseldorf....

 in the Niederrhein

Lower Rhine region (Germany)

The Lower Rhine region or Niederrhein is a region around the Lower Rhine section of the river Rhine in North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany between approximately Neuss and Düsseldorf in the South and the Dutch border around Emmerich in the North...

 of western Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. It is 7 km (4.3 mi) northwest of Kevelaer

Kevelaer

Kevelaer is a municipality in the district of Kleve, in North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. It is the best visited Catholic pilgrimage location within north-western Europe. More than 800,000 pilgrims, mostly from Germany and the Netherlands, visit Kevelaer every year to honour the Virgin Mary.The...

, about 33 km (20.5 mi) southeast of Nijmegen, Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

, and 48 km (29.8 mi) northwest of Duisburg

Duisburg

- History :A legend recorded by Johannes Aventinus holds that Duisburg, was built by the eponymous Tuisto, mythical progenitor of Germans, ca. 2395 BC...

. It uses the facilities of the former military airbase RAF Laarbruch

RAF Laarbruch

The former Royal Air Force Station Laarbruch, more commonly known as RAF Laarbruch ICAO EDUL was a Royal Air Force station, a military airbase, located in Germany on its border with the Netherlands...

, and began operations as a civil airport in 2003.

Weeze Airport is used mostly by low-cost carrier

Low-cost carrier

A low-cost carrier or low-cost airline is an airline that generally has lower fares and fewer comforts...

s, mainly Ryanair

Ryanair

Ryanair is an Irish low-cost airline. Its head office is at Dublin Airport and its primary operational bases at Dublin Airport and London Stansted Airport....

. Its IATA-Code is NRN because of its official name Flughafen Niederrhein.

The airport has undergone several name changes. The operators originally wanted to name it after the city of Düsseldorf

Düsseldorf

Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...

, but the significant distance (70 km (43.5 mi)) to that city, which already had three closer international airports (Düsseldorf International

Düsseldorf International Airport

Düsseldorf International Airport is the largest airport in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, and the third largest airport in Germany, handling 18.99 million passengers in 2010....

, Düsseldorf-Mönchengladbach

Düsseldorf-Mönchengladbach Airport

Düsseldorf-Mönchengladbach Airport is an airport located northeast of Mönchengladbach and west of Düsseldorf.-History:...

 and Cologne/Bonn

Cologne Bonn Airport

Cologne/Bonn Airport is an international airport located in the district of Porz in the city of Cologne, Germany, and is surrounded by the Wahner Heide nature reserve. The airport is centrally located in the Cologne/Bonn Region southeast of Cologne city centre and northeast of Bonn...

), resulted in the name being blocked by a court ruling that it was likely to mislead passengers. However, airlines which use the airport, particularly Ryanair, still refer to it as 'Düsseldorf (Weeze)'.

The airport actually serves better the closer Dutch cities of Venlo

Venlo

Venlo is a municipality and a city in the southeastern Netherlands, next to the German border. It is situated in the province of Limburg.In 2001, the municipalities of Belfeld and Tegelen were merged into the municipality of Venlo. Tegelen was originally part of the Duchy of Jülich centuries ago,...

, Nijmegen and Arnhem

Arnhem

Arnhem is a city and municipality, situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of Gelderland and located near the river Nederrijn as well as near the St. Jansbeek, which was the source of the city's development. Arnhem has 146,095 residents as one of the...

, the German city of Duisburg

Duisburg

- History :A legend recorded by Johannes Aventinus holds that Duisburg, was built by the eponymous Tuisto, mythical progenitor of Germans, ca. 2395 BC...

 and the immediate Weeze area.

There is a big firebrigade training centre at the grounds of the airport.
There are 9 direct public buses to Düsseldorf per day. There are also buses to Weeze, Kevelaer, Duisburg and Essen

Essen

- Origin of the name :In German-speaking countries, the name of the city Essen often causes confusion as to its origins, because it is commonly known as the German infinitive of the verb for the act of eating, and/or the German noun for food. Although scholars still dispute the interpretation of...

 in Germany and to the Dutch cities Nijmegen, Venlo and Arnhem every hour.

In 2008, with 1.52 mil. passengers, which represented growth of 80% on the previous year, it was among Europe’s fastest-growing airports.

Airlines and destinations

External links

• Official website (In English, German and Dutch)
• Spotting Group Niederrhein (In English, German and Dutch)