Cologne/Bonn Airport also called Konrad-Adenauer-Flughafen or Flughafen Köln-Wahn is the sixth largest airport for passengers in Germany and second largest for cargo. It is situated in the nature reserve Wahner Heide, southeast of Cologne.

History

1913 the first plane took off from the military training area Wahner Heide on an artillery reconnaisance flight. In 1939 an airfield was built for the German Luftwaffe. After World War II, British Troops took over and expanded the airport. A 1,866m-runway was built in this period. 1951 the airport was opened for civilian air traffic.

During the fifties and sixties two more runways and a new terminal are constructed. On November 1st, 1970 a Boeing 747 takes off to New York for the first time.

In 1986 Cologne/Bonn Airport ist chosen by UPS as location for their European hub.

In the late 1990ies the Airport starts an expansion program. Several new parking lots and a second terminal are built, 2004 a train station on the new ICE-high-speed-track Cologne-Frankfurt is opened.

Low-cost carriers

Coinciding with the start of several low-cost airlines in Germany, Cologne/Bonn opened new capacities. This enabled the airport to make competitive offers to the airlines. Consequently, Germanwings and Hapag-Lloyd Express started operations from Cologne/Bonn as their hub in the fall of 2002. They were joined by easyJet in late 2003.

As a result, the number of passengers in 2003 rose by 43 percent compared to 2002.

The airport is actively searching for airlines willing to establish the first trans-atlantic low-cost flight.