Weeze Airport
Weeze Airport, less commonly known as Niederrhein Airport and sometimes marketed as Düsseldorf-Weeze, is a minor international airport in the Lower Rhine region of Germany. It is used by Ryanair. The airport is situated southwest of the municipality of Weeze and northwest of Kevelaer, about southeast of the Dutch city of Nijmegen, and northwest of the German city of Duisburg.
History
Foundation and early years
The airport uses the facilities of the former military airbase RAF Laarbruch, and began operating as a civilian airport in 2003. There is also a large fire department training facility on the airport grounds. Its IATA code is NRN because of its official name Flughafen Niederrhein.The airport has had several different names in its history as a civilian airport. The operators originally wanted to name it after the city of Düsseldorf, but the significant distance of to that city, which already had two closer international airports, resulted in the name being blocked by a court ruling in 2016 that such a description would be likely to mislead passengers. However, Ryanair still refers to it as "Düsseldorf-Weeze". Compared to Düsseldorf, the airport is actually closer to the Dutch cities of Venlo, Nijmegen and Arnhem, the German cities of Duisburg and Essen, and the immediate Weeze area.
Weeze was served by the short-lived, Dutch low-cost carrier V Bird, which opened a base here and operated flights to Berlin, Munich and several international destinations, from its inception in 2003 until bankruptcy in 2004. During this time, passenger numbers doubled from 200,000 to 400,000 within a year. Between 2008 and 2013, this was one of Germany's fastest-growing airports.
Development since 2010
After peaking at nearly three million passengers in 2010, Weeze Airport began experiencing a steady decline in throughput, partially due to stiff competition from neighboring airports such as Eindhoven and Dortmund. In February 2014, Ryanair announced the cancellation of 18 routes from Weeze for the 2014 summer season, citing a lack of aircraft.In 2019, the airport faced severe financial difficulties due to a fall in passenger numbers by 30 percent over the previous year as a result of the cancellation of several Ryanair routes. This was best exemplified by the cancellation of the London-Stansted route, which was one of the most popular destinations from Weeze airport for most of the 2000s and early 2010s.
After passenger numbers collapsed during the COVID-19 pandemic, Weeze Airport has experienced a minor resurgence in popularity, driven by Ryanair's introduction of several new routes and the re-emergence of many destinations. In 2025, Weeze airport welcomed over two million passengers for the first time in over a decade.
Facilities
Weeze Airport has one passenger terminal building with restaurants, shops, and check-in facilities. The apron, which is to the west of the terminal building, features nine aircraft stands for mid-sized aircraft such as the Boeing 737-800. As there are no jet bridges due to the location of the apron to the west side of the terminal building instead in front of it, bus-boarding is used for six stands. Only three stands are close enough to the terminal to be accessed on foot.Airlines and destinations
The following airlines operate regular scheduled and seasonal flights at Weeze Airport:The nearest larger international airport is Düsseldorf Airport, located south east of Weeze Airport.