Airports In Germany Are Some Of The Busiest

Though of all the civil airports in Germany, major ports such as Frankfurt are more popular and well known throughout the world, there are others of equal stature that come high up on the list of busy European airports.

Based on the volume of international traffic, Munich, Düsseldorf, and Hamburg may come next in prominence. And most of the below airports are with easy access to public transport such as train, subway, and bus. And most offer car rentals, too.

Hover with your mouse over the below interactive map and click through to the airport of your choice, or scroll down the page, read short descriptions and click through from there.

German Airports Map

Now on to the airport descriptions…

Major Airports In Germany

Frankfurt International Airport [FRA] — Frankfurt am Main International Airport is easily the largest airport or Flughafen in Germany and the third largest in Europe. It is located about 12km (7.5mi) from the city of Frankfurt am Main and provides you with a huge railway station with access to both high-speed train ICE as well as low-speed subway. Ongoing construction on a fourth runway is being undertaken in order to keep up with the ever increasing passenger and cargo traffic.

Munich Airport [MUC] — Franz Josef Strauss International Airport otherwise known as Munich Airport is situated in the northeast of Munich and is the second largest airport in Germany. It won the “Best Airport in Europe” status in 2007.

Düsseldorf Airport [DUS] — Düsseldorf International Airport is the third largest in Germany and is located in Düsseldorf, the capital of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Berlin-Tegel Airport [TXL] — Berlin-Tegel International Airport, popularly known simply as Tegel, is the main international airport in Berlin. Being the fourth largest airport, it is also branded as the “Frequent Flyer Airport”. This port will however be shut down once the Berlin-Brandenburg International Airport opens in 2011 or 2012.

Hamburg Airport [HAM] — Hamburg Airport, also known as Hamburg-Fuhlsbüttel Airport, is located about 9km (5.6mi) from the city center of Hamburg. It began operations in 1911 and is reputed to be the oldest German airport. It is the fifth largest of all airports in Germany.

Cologne Bonn Airport [CGN] — Köln/Bonn or Cologne/Bonn International Airport is also named the Konrad Adenauer Flughafen and is located in the Wahner Heide nature reserve, about 16km (10mi) southeast of Cologne (Köln). It is open 24 hours and is the sixth largest airport in Germany. In addition, it provides easy access to the rest of Germany due to its own long-distance railway station connected to the airport (including the high-speed train ICE going from Cologne all the way to Frankfurt, Munich and Berlin).

Stuttgart Airport [STR] — Stuttgart International Airport is ranked seventh of all the airports in Germany and the most important in the state of Baden-Württemberg, in spite of having only one runway. It is located about 13km (8mi) south of Stuttgart.

Berlin-Schönefeld Airport [SFX] — Berlin-Schönefeld International Airport (eighth largest in Germany) is located outside the city of Berlin, in the city of Schönefeld in the state of Brandenburg. It is a popular port for holiday charter flights and hence is aptly called “The Holiday Airport”. Plans are on the anvil to elevate this airport to become the Berlin-Brandenburg International Airport (in 2011/2012) that would be capable of handling about 25 million passengers, more than four times its present capacity.

Hanover Airport [HAJ] — Hanover International Airport, also called Langenhagen Airport due to its proximity to the town of Langenhagen, is the ninth largest German airport. It is located about 11km (6.8mi) north of Hanover in the state of Lower Saxony and has three terminals devoted to passenger traffic.

Nuremberg Airport [NUE] — The top modern Nuremberg International Airport is the second largest in the state of Bavaria and the tenth largest in all of Germany. It is located about 7km (4.3mi) north of the city of Nuremberg.

Frankfurt-Hahn Airport [HHN] — Do not be misled by that the Frankfurt-Hahn Airport would be any close to the finance metropolis. With a distance of 120km (75mi), it takes at least 1 hour 50 minutes by public transport (first bus then train) or 1 hour 20 minutes by car to get to the center of Frankfurt. Despite this, the Frankfurt-Hahn Airport, located near the small town of Sohren in the Hunsrück region, attracts 4 million passengers per year and is therefore the 11th largest airport in Germany. It is mainly used by the European low-cost carrier Ryanair.

Leipzig/Halle Airport [LEJ] — Leipzig/Halle Airport, also called Schkeuditz Airport, lies between the cities of Leipzig and Halle (Saale) — in the state of Saxony. It is considered the 12th largest German airport (according to passenger numbers), is the third largest cargo hub, and has also a railway station connected to the airport, making traveling through Germany a snap.

Bremen Airport [BRE] — Bremen Airport is located in the city of Bremen and has been in operation since 1913. As a result, it has quite a remarkable history in the field of aviation. It even houses a space exploration and aviation museum. The airport ranks on the 13th place.

Dortmund Airport [DTM] — Dortmund Airport operates with the rather interesting slogan, “Closer than you think,” and is known as Dortmund Airport 21, located in the east of Dortmund. It is the 14th largest airport in Germany.

Dresden Airport [DRS] — Dresden International Airport (15th largest in Germany) is located in the north of Dresden and was primarily a military airport during World War II. It became a commercial port in 1957 and the center of East German aviation. After the German reunification, it underwent considerable expansion, modernization, and now operates three terminals.