Hahn Airport Flughafen Frankfurt-Hahn | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||||||||
 | |||||||||||
| Summary | |||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||
| Operator | Flughafen Frankfurt-HahnGmbH | ||||||||||
| Serves | Frankfurt Rhine-Main | ||||||||||
| Location | Lautzenhausen,Rhineland-Palatinate,Germany | ||||||||||
| Opened | 30 September 1993; 31 years ago (1993-09-30) | ||||||||||
| Operating base for | Ryanair | ||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 503 m / 1,649 ft | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 49°56′54″N007°15′51″E / 49.94833°N 7.26417°E /49.94833; 7.26417 | ||||||||||
| Website | www | ||||||||||
| Map | |||||||||||
  HHN/EDFH Location of airport in Rhineland-Palatinate Show map of Rhineland-Palatinate HHN/EDFH HHN/EDFH (Germany) Show map of Germany HHN/EDFH HHN/EDFH (Europe) Show map of Europe | |||||||||||
 | |||||||||||
| Runways | |||||||||||
| |||||||||||
| Statistics (2022) | |||||||||||
| |||||||||||
Hahn Airport (German:Flughafen Frankfurt-Hahn) (IATA:HHN,ICAO:EDFH), also colloquially known and formerly officially branded asFrankfurt–Hahn Airport, is aninternational airport in the municipality ofHahn,Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
The airport is 10 km (6.2 mi) from the town ofKirchberg and 20 km (12 mi) from bothSimmern andTraben-Trarbach. The airport is equidistant betweenFrankfurt andLuxembourg – about 120 km (75 mi) to each city by road. The closest major cities areKoblenz at about 70 km (43 mi) andMainz at about 90 km (56 mi). The airport served 1.4 million passengers in 2019, down from 2.60 million in 2016.[3][4] Most airlines that operate commercial passenger service to and from the airport arelow-cost carriers. It is also a prominent cargo airport as a result of its location and 24-hour operating licence.[5] It had a turnover of 156,000 tons of cargo in 2019.[3] As of 2024, the airport is jointly owned by Triwo Travvex Group (82.5%) and by the state ofHesse (17.5%).
During theCold War, at which time an invasion ofWest Germany was a possibility,Hahn Air Base was a frontline air base, and home of theUnited States Air Force 50th Tactical Fighter Wing (now the50th Space Wing), in various designations, as part of theUnited States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE). It was one of several USAFE bases in Germany within 100 kilometres (62 mi) of each other includingZweibrücken Air Base,Ramstein Air Base,Sembach,Bitburg Air Base,Spangdahlem Air Base, andRhein-Main Air Base. These air bases were well situated to reach all locations within Europe and theMediterranean Basin. Hahn Air Base had more than 13,000 people and three squadrons of F-16 tactical fighters.[citation needed] At the end of the Cold War, the United States was left with a huge excess capacity of expensive airfields in Europe.
As a result, the squadrons at the base were inactivated: the496th Tactical Fighter Squadron was inactivated on 15 May 1991, the313th Tactical Fighter Squadron was inactivated on 1 July 1991, and the10th Tactical Fighter Squadron was inactivated on 30 September 1991. The 50th Tactical Fighter Wing was inactivated on 30 September 1991 and then activated as the50th Space Wing at Falcon AFB (nowSchriever Air Force Base) inColorado on 30 January 1992. The inactivations had a significant effect on the local economy.[6]
Most of Hahn Air Base was turned over to German civil authorities on 30 September 1993, though USAFE retained a small portion as a radio communications site until its final turnover to German authorities in 2012. It is still frequently used for military charters operated by, amongst others, Atlas Air,Delta Air Lines, andUnited Airlines.
The German government decided to turn Hahn Air Base into a civil airport with the goal of reducing traffic toFrankfurt Airport (which is located in the neighbouring state ofHesse). One of the main investors in the development of the airport wasFraport AG, the operator of Frankfurt International Airport, which received a 65%ownership stake in the airport.[citation needed]
In 1996, the faculty and police training school of theRheinland-Pfalz State Police were combined at a new joint facility located at the air base's former housing area.[citation needed]
In 2001,Ryanair began flying to the airport, using it as a second base for its European operations.[7] At the request of Ryanair, the name of the airport was officially changed fromHahn Airport toFrankfurt–Hahn Airport.Lufthansa began legal proceedings against Ryanair in 2002, claiming the usage of "Frankfurt" in the name to befalse advertising. Ryanair was allowed to keep the name but was forced to clarify in its advertising that the airport is actually 120 kilometers (75 miles) by road from Frankfurt.[8] In March 2023, the new owners, Triwo, changed the name to "Hahn Airport".[9]
In 2003, the airport reported a loss of €17 million, compared to €20 million in 2002.[10]
In 2007,Etihad Cargo switched its German freighter services from Frankfurt International airport to Frankfurt-Hahn airport.[11]
Effective 1 January 2009,Fraport sold its 65% interest in the airport to the government ofRhineland-Palatinate for the symbolic price of €1. The airport had been losing money and Fraport did not want to continue to fund losses. The transaction increased the stake owned by the government to 82.5%.[12] Also in 2009, a cargo flight departing from Hahn using theAntonov 225 made the world record for the heaviest single piece of air cargo, a 189.98tonne generator for aFossil-fuel power station in Armenia.[13]
In 2013, Etihad Cargo, a major customer of the airport, announced the relocation of its cargo operations from Hahn to Frankfurt Airport.[14]
In January 2014, the airport announced it had accumulated debts of €125 million while passenger and cargo traffic were decreasing.[15] The same year, the government pledged €80 million to the airport so that it would avoid bankruptcy.[16] In February 2014, security staff at the airport initiated a strike action.[17]In the summer of 2014, Ryanair reduced capacity on several routes for and removed 3 of 9 aircraft based at the airport.[18]
In March 2015,Yangtze River Express, the largest freight customer of the airport with 4 cargo destinations and accounting for 50,000 of the airport's 130,000 tons of annual volume, announced it would cease its cargo operations at Frankfurt–Hahn Airport in favor ofMunich Airport.[19] Months earlier,Qatar Airways andAeroflot had also ceased their cargo operations at the airport.[20]
In June 2016, the cargo subsidiary ofAir France–KLM announced it would shut down its cargo reloading point at the airport, which was used to collect freight and transfer it to Paris by truck.[21] In August 2016,RAF-Avia fromLatvia announced basing two aircraft at the airport to operate ad-hoc charter flights.[22] Also in June 2016, the government ofRhineland-Palatinate announced the sale of its 82.5% interest in the airport to Shanghai Yiqian Trading Company.[23] However, the deal fell apart a month later after the buyer failed to get approval to make the payment.[24]
In 2017, Suparna, formerly known as Yangtze River Express, began operating a 747-400F at the airport andAirBridgeCargo and Etihad also expanded cargo operations.[25] In August 2017,HNA Group, aFortune Global 500 company based in China acquired the 82.5% stake in the airport owned by the government ofRhineland-Palatinate for €15.1 million.[26][27] In conjunction with the acquisition, theEuropean Commission agreed to cover up to €25.3 million of losses between 2017 and 2021 while HNA makes improvements to the airport.[28]
In February 2018, Ryanair announced the shift of part of its operations from Hahn toFrankfurt Airport, where it opened a base in 2017. One of five aircraft were moved to Frankfurt Airport and four routes were cut at Frankfurt-Hahn.[29] A year later, Ryanair announced further major cuts with a reduction to just 16 routes — from over 40 in earlier years — for the 2019/2020 winter season.[30] In July 2020,Ryanair announced plans to close their Hahn base by November 2020 after a labour union dispute. Hahn has been Ryanair's second base in continentalEurope, inaugurated in 2002.[31] However, as of September 2020, no final decision had been made.[needs update]
The airport filed forbankruptcy on 19 October 2021 while continuing normal operations.[32] In June 2022, it was sold to a German investor,[33][34] which however did not transfer the agreed sales price by late 2022 raising doubt about the airport's future again.[35] Shortly after, the administrator signed preliminary contracts with two new potential buyers, one of them being the owner of nearbyNürburgring.[36] If the purchase is approved, the new owner of the airport will be NR Holding, owned by Russian billionaireViktor Kharitonin, a major figure in the Russian pharmaceutical industry. The purchase price is 20 million euros.[37]
In April 2023, the administrator announced that the airport had been sold to the Trier-based company Triwo, which already owns and operates several smaller airports.[38] The sale was subject to conditions from the time of the announcement until its definitive closing around 20 April 2023.[39] Triwo AG has officially been the owner of the airport company TRIWO Hahn Airport GmbH since May 2023.[40]
The airport consists of two passenger terminals and one cargo terminal. The passenger terminals, designated A and B, include shops and restaurants including aMcDonald's.[41] The apron has 11 stands for mid-sized aircraft, such as theBoeing 737, which are reached on foot. The cargo apron has three stands for large aircraft such as theBoeing 747-8F.
Frankfurt–Hahn has a long runway of 3,800 metres (12,467 ft) in the direction of 03/21. This, combined with a large apron, allows it to handle some of the world's biggest aircraft, such as theAntonov An-124 or theBoeing Dreamlifter. While the Antonov is a frequent visitor, the Dreamlifter has only landed twice at the airport, both times in 2010. AnInstrument Landing System is available, with runway 21 beingcategory 3 approved; low-visibility conditions are a frequent problem at the airport, especially in autumn and winter.
The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Hahn:[42]
| Airlines | Destinations |
|---|---|
| Air Arabia | Seasonal:Nador[43] |
| Air Serbia | Niš |
| FlyOne | Chișinău |
| Ryanair[44][45][46] | Agadir,[47]Alicante,[47]Bari,[48]Bergamo,[48]Catania,[48]Dublin,[48]Faro,[47]Fès,[48]Kerry,[48]Lamezia Terme,London–Stansted,[49]Málaga,[47]Marrakesh,[48]Nador,[48]Palma de Mallorca,[48]Pescara,Porto,[48]Reggio Calabria,[50][51]Rome–Fiumicino,[47]Seville,[48]Sofia,[52]Tenerife–South,[53][46]Thessaloniki,[48]Treviso,[48]Zagreb[54] Seasonal:Alghero,[55]Barcelona,[48][46]Budapest,[56]Cagliari,[48][46]Chania,[48][46]Girona,[57]Gran Canaria,[58]Ibiza,[48][46]Palermo,[48][46]Rijeka (begins 4 May 2025),[59]Valencia,[48][46]Vilnius,[48][46]Zadar[48][46] |
| Trade Air | Seasonal charter:Pristina[60] |
| Wizz Air | Bucharest–Otopeni (begins 1 August 2025),[61]Cluj-Napoca,Kutaisi,[62]Sibiu (begins 2 August 2025),[63]Skopje,Sofia,Tirana,Varna (resumes 14 April 2025)[64] |
| Airlines | Destinations |
|---|---|
| Aerotranscargo[65][66] | Baku,Rio de Janeiro–Galeão,Riyadh |
| Atlas Air[67] | Halifax,Mumbai,Riyadh |
| Silk Way West Airlines[68] | Baku,Vienna |
| Suparna Airlines[69][70] | Wuxi,Xi'an |
The airport is also used by further cargo carriers on an irregular basis, e. g. for ad-hoc charter or military operations.[71]
.jpg)
| Passengers[4][72] | |
|---|---|
| 2004 | 2,751,585 |
| 2005 |  3,076,823 |
| 2006 | 3,704,633 |
| 2007 | 4,014,898 |
| 2008 |  3,940,159 |
| 2009 | 3,793,710 |
| 2010 | 3,493,451 |
| 2011 | 2,894,109 |
| 2012 | 2,790,961 |
| 2013 | 2,667,402 |
| 2014 | 2,447,140 |
| 2015 | 2,667,000 |
| 2016 | 2,609,156 |
| 2017 | 2,472,198 |
| 2018 | 2,092,868 |
| 2019[3] | 1,496,362 |
| 2020[73] | 436,862 |
| 2021[74] | 678,829 |
| 2022[1] | 1,377,087 |
| 2023[75] | 1,673,219 |
As of September 2023, the airport can be reached with the following long-distance bus and regional lines:[76]
The airport has no railway station. The nearest train station is inTraben-Trarbach (20 kilometers by road, 10 kilometersas the crow flies), the terminus of thePünderich–Traben-Trarbach railway. The nearest long-distance railway stations areBullay (15 kilometers northwest, on theKoblenz–Trier railway), andIdar-Oberstein (26 kilometers south) on the Mainz–Bad Kreuznach–Saarbrücken line. Frequent buses also run to the main railway station of nearby cities, the closest beingMainz (70 minutes, 60 km or 37 mi to the east) andKoblenz (65 minutes, 50 kilometers northeast). Frankfurt–Hahn Airport is almost equidistant from Frankfurt andLuxembourg.
The nearestAutobahn connections are approximately 40 kilometres (25 mi) to the west (A1) or east (A 61). Parking and car rental are available at the airport.
Media related toFrankfurt-Hahn Airport at Wikimedia Commons
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
