Bremen Airport ( German: ''Flughafen Bremen'', ) is the international airport of the city and

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

of Bremen in Northern Germany. It is located south of the city and handled 2.66 million passengers in 2015. It mainly features flights to European metropolitan and leisure destinations.

History

Early years

The beginnings of the airport date back to the early 20th century. The ''Bremer Verein für Luftschiffahrt'', a local aerospace club, conducted the first experimental flights at the present site in the summer of 1910, on what was then the parade ground of the local garrison. The

Senate of Bremen The Senate of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (German: Senat der Freien Hansestadt Bremen) is the government of the German city-state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. Various senate-like institutions have existed in Bremen since medieval times. Th ...

supported the establishment of an airfield to connect Bremen to the growing airship route network. Official permission for the opening of an airport was granted on 16 May 1913. The initial infrastructure was geared towards aircraft operations instead of the initially envisaged airships. Several wooden hangars were erected. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, the airport was taken into military administration, and civilian operations ceased. The military erected a wooden hangar, but conducted only a small number of operations from the airfield. After the war, the airport only reopened on 18 July 1920, with Dutch airline KLM beginning scheduled flights to

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

soon thereafter. In the same year, the

Weimar National Assembly The Weimar National Assembly (German: ), officially the German National Constitutional Assembly (), was the popularly elected constitutional convention and de facto parliament of Germany from 6 February 1919 to 21 May 1920. As part of its ...

authorised investment into upgraded facilities at the airport. Administration of the airport was transferred to the newly founded ''Bremer Flughafengesellschaft''. In 1923, the aeroplane manufacturer Focke-Wulf was founded on a site adjacent to the airfield.

World War II

In the 1930s, several new terminal buildings and hangars were constructed, with the largest to date being completed in 1937. In the same year, four new runways were built. These were arranged in a star-like pattern. The increasing military buildup under the rule of the Nazis also began to show itself at the airport, with the

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

establishing a flight training base there. Civilian operations again came to a standstill with the beginning of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. For a short period between November 1939 and June 1940, the airport served as the base for a squadron of

Focke-Wulf Fw 200 The Focke-Wulf Fw 200 ''Condor'', also known as ''Kurier'' to the Allies (English: Courier), was a German all-metal four-engined monoplane originally developed by Focke-Wulf as a long-range airliner. A Japanese request for a long-range maritime ...

bombers. In the later stages of the war, the airport came under repeated bombardment due to co-location with the Focke-Wulf plant. This left most of the infrastructure destroyed or severely damaged by the end of the war. The

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

took over the airport and the adjacent aircraft plant in 1945 for use as an airbase. After conducting the necessary repairs, it operated mostly transport aircraft into and out of the American enclave within otherwise British-occupied northern Germany. Control was handed back to the Bremen authorities in 1949. Civilian operations resumed that year with Scandinavian Airlines using Bremen Airport as a stopover on routes from

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Swe ...

Geneva , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...

and

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. Runway 09-27 was extended to 2.000 m.

Development since the 1950s

In the mid-1950s, the terminal buildings were reconstructed and Lufthansa began scheduled flights to the airport. The German airline also established its pilot training operations ( Lufthansa Flight Training) at the airport. During the 1960s, scheduled jet flights began to be operated at Bremen. In 1971, a large radar system was installed on the southern perimeter of the airport. 1989 was the first year that the airport had more than one million passengers. The current terminal building was opened in 1998. In January 2016 the airport's operator announced that the main terminal building would undergo major redesign and renovation works until 2018. Terminal sections 1, 2 and 3 were merged amongst several other changes.aerotelegraph.com – Flughafen Bremen frischt sein Terminal auf
(German) 26 January 2016 In May 2016 the airport introduced its new

brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create ...

with ''BRE Bremen Airport'' replacing ''City Airport Bremen'' . In February 2017

British Airways British Airways (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London, England, near its main hub at Heathrow Airport. The airline is the second largest UK-based carrier, based on fleet size and passengers ...

announced it would end its flights from Bremen to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, which were both operated by SUN-AIR. SUN-AIR maintained a base for the routes at Bremen Airport. In April 2017 the airport announced it was changing its name to Bremen Airport Hans Koschnick, after the former mayor and honorable citizen of Bremen. In October 2018, Ryanair announced it would be closing its base at the airport on 5 November 2018. In February 2021, Lufthansa Aviation Training announced it would relocate its entire German practical training from Bremen Airport to Rostock Airport.

Facilities

The airport consists of one main passenger terminal building, split into sections ''Terminal 1, 2'' and ''3'' that features several shops, restaurants and service facilities as well five aircraft stands equipped with

jet bridge A jet bridge (also termed jetway, jetwalk, airgate, gangway, aerobridge/airbridge, skybridge, finger, airtube, expedited suspended passenger entry system (E-SPES), or its official industry name passenger boarding bridge (PBB)) is an enclosed, ...

s and some additional stands for mid-sized aircraft on the apron. The main building contains the check-in counters 5–19 and 21–38. Ryanair uses another more basic facility to the west of the main terminal called ''Terminal E'' which only features walk-boarding and features the check-in counters 1E-4E. The ''Bremenhalle'' inside the airport hosts a small aviation and space exploration museum, displaying the

Junkers W33 The Junkers W 33 was a German 1920s single-engine low-wing monoplane transport aircraft that followed Junkers standard practice making extensive use of corrugated aluminium alloy over an aluminium alloy tube frame, that was developed from the s ...

''Bremen'' and the first Spacelab module.

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Bremen Airport:

Statistics

Ground transportation

Tram

Tram line 6 departs every 6 to 10 minutes (on Sunday evenings up to 20 min) to Universität Bremen via Domsheide and Hauptbahnhof. The ride takes 11 minutes to the city center, 16 minutes to the central station and 30 minutes to the university.

Car

The airport can be reached via motorway A1 (

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and ...

–

Ruhr area The Ruhr ( ; german: Ruhrgebiet , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr area, sometimes Ruhr district, Ruhr region, or Ruhr valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 2,800/km ...

; Exit ''Arsten'') and the yet only partly completed city motorway A281 which crosses the city of Bremen.

References

External links

* * * {{Authority control

Airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...

Airports in Bremen (state) Airports established in 1913

Transport in Bremen (state) Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces Air Transport Command in the European Theater 1913 establishments in Germany