Rotterdam The Hague Airport (formerly (Dutch

Dutch language

Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...

): Rotterdam Airport,Vliegveld Zestienhoven), located 3 NM north northwest of Rotterdam

Rotterdam

Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...

, is the 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...

' third largest airport

Airport

An airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport...

, coming after Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and Eindhoven Airport

Eindhoven Airport

-Facilities:Passenger facilities available include: Exchange office, Lost property office, Luggage lockers, Baby changing area and a Health centre. Wireless internet access is provided free of charge throughout the airport. A business lounge is available too. Major car rental companies have their...

 (measured in passengers). From the airport, there are amongst others daily services to London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

, Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

, Madrid

Madrid

Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...

 and Barcelona

Barcelona

Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...

 and charter flights. The airport handled 1,146,692 passengers in 2010.

History

After World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, the Dutch government

Politics of the Netherlands

The politics of the Netherlands take place within the framework of a parliamentary representative democracy, a constitutional monarchy and a decentralised unitary state. The Netherlands is described as a consociational state...

 decided that a second national airport was needed in addition to Schiphol. Rotterdam had had an airport before the war - Waalhaven

Waalhaven

thumb|right|250px|Waalhaven Airport in 1932, with the [[LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin|Graf Zeppelin]] in the background.The Waalhaven is one of various harbours in the Port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands and used to be home to an airport, Vliegveld Waalhaven . It was the first civilian airport in the...

 airport - but it was destroyed to prevent it from being used by the Germans

Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

. Reconstruction of the airport wasn't a realistic proposition, so a new location was found in the Zestienhoven polder

Polder

A polder is a low-lying tract of land enclosed by embankments known as dikes, that forms an artificial hydrological entity, meaning it has no connection with outside water other than through manually-operated devices...

.

Construction of the airport began in August 1955 and the airport was officially opened in October 1956. Several large international airlines such as Swissair

Swissair

Swissair AG was the former national airline of Switzerland.It was formed from a merger between Balair and Ad Astra Aero , in 1931...

, Lufthansa

Lufthansa

Deutsche Lufthansa AG is the flag carrier of Germany and the largest airline in Europe in terms of overall passengers carried. The name of the company is derived from Luft , and Hansa .The airline is the world's fourth-largest airline in terms of overall passengers carried, operating...

 and Air France

Air France

Air France , stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the French flag carrier headquartered in Tremblay-en-France, , and is one of the world's largest airlines. It is a subsidiary of the Air France-KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global airline alliance...

 were soon operating from Rotterdam. However, in the 1970s plans were made to either close or move the airport to make room for houses and the uncertain future caused a stagnation in the airport's growth and many operators left. For almost thirty years the airport faced closure, but the economic growth of the 1990s caused an increase in passengers again and in 2001 it was decided that the airport's current location would be maintained for at least a century.

The route with the longest continual service, to London Heathrow

London Heathrow Airport

London Heathrow Airport or Heathrow , in the London Borough of Hillingdon, is the busiest airport in the United Kingdom and the third busiest airport in the world in terms of total passenger traffic, handling more international passengers than any other airport around the globe...

 and operated by KLM Cityhopper

KLM Cityhopper

KLM Cityhopper is the regional subsidiary of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines . The airline, with its head office, the Convair Building, on the grounds of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in Schiphol-Oost, Haarlemmermeer, operates short haul services in and around Europe...

, was suspended in favour of the expansion of a SkyTeam

SkyTeam

SkyTeam, branded as SKYTEAM, is an airline alliance with its centralised management team, SkyTeam Central, based at the World Trade Center Schiphol Airport on the grounds of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in Haarlemmermeer, Netherlands...

-hub at London Heathrow. This marked the end of KLM's involvement with the airport. Most flights today are operated by regional turboprop

Turboprop

A turboprop engine is a type of turbine engine which drives an aircraft propeller using a reduction gear.The gas turbine is designed specifically for this application, with almost all of its output being used to drive the propeller...

 aircraft such as the Fokker 50, Dash 8 and ATR aircraft and smaller mainline jets such as the Boeing 737

Boeing 737

The Boeing 737 is a short- to medium-range, twin-engine narrow-body jet airliner. Originally developed as a shorter, lower-cost twin-engine airliner derived from Boeing's 707 and 727, the 737 has developed into a family of nine passenger models with a capacity of 85 to 215 passengers...

 and Airbus A320

Airbus A320 family

The Airbus A320 family is a family of short- to medium-range, narrow-body, commercial passenger jet airliners manufactured by Airbus Industrie.Airbus was originally a consortium of European aerospace companies, and is now fully owned by EADS. Airbus's name has been Airbus SAS since 2001...

 series. There is also a fair amount of business aviation.

For international purposes the name of the airport was changed to Rotterdam The Hague Airport on February 10, 2010.

Airlines and destinations

The airport is also used extensively by general aviation

General aviation

General aviation is one of the two categories of civil aviation. It refers to all flights other than military and scheduled airline and regular cargo flights, both private and commercial. General aviation flights range from gliders and powered parachutes to large, non-scheduled cargo jet flights...

 and there are several flying club

Flying club

A flying club or aero club is a not for profit, member run organization that provides its members with affordable access to aircraft.Many clubs also provide flight training, flight planning facilities, pilot supplies and associated services, as well as organizing social functions, fly-ins and...

s and school

Flight training

Flight training is a course of study used when learning to pilot an aircraft. The overall purpose of primary and intermediate flight training is the acquisition and honing of basic airmanship skills....

s located at the airport.

External links

• Rotterdam Airport (official website)
• Airliners.net photos taken at Rotterdam Airport.