Dortmund Airport

Dortmund Airport is a minor international airport located east

Since 2006 the airport has been carrying the name "Dortmund Airport 21", in reference to the fact that Dortmund's utility company, DSW21, is its major shareholder. The airport's master plan consists of the following elements: Increasing normal operating hours by one hour at night (to 23:00h), with an additional one-hour window in the morning and at night for exceptions, lengthening the runway to , expanding the terminal and its infrastructure, improving the motorway connections and directly connecting the airport to mass transit.

At one time Eurowings had its headquarters, the Dortmund Administrative Center (Verwaltungsstandort Dortmund), at the airport. It has been relocated to Düsseldorf in 2010.

In October 2014, Air Berlin announced it was leaving Dortmund Airport entirely, cancelling their last remaining summer seasonal route to Palma de Mallorca. The airline had shut down several leisure routes from the airport in 2012.

As with easyJet in the 2000s, other low-cost carriers started opening routes from Dortmund Airport. Ryanair has progressively added new routes from Dortmund, mostly to destinations around the Mediterranean and the UK. From 2013 to 2015, Spanish low-cost airline Vueling offered a short-lived, four weekly service to Barcelona. However, Wizz Air has been the most significant contributor to the airport's resurgence. The Hungarian low-cost airline began servicing the airport in the mid 2000s by operating several routes to Eastern Europe, in large parts due to the Ruhr's significant Slavic community. In June 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Wizzair announced that Dortmund Airport would become its 33rd base, being the first in Germany. However, only one year later, Wizz Air announced the closure of their Dortmund base which led to the termination of several routes.

In October 2024, Ryanair announced the termination of all routes at three German airports including Dortmund, citing high operational costs.

In December 2024, Eurowings also announced it would downsize its operations in Dortmund, terminating the year-round service to Munich as well as not resuming four seasonal destinations. In October 2025, Eurowings subsequently announced the immediate closure of its base at Dortmund Airport as of the same month, cutting four of five remaining destinations to and from the airport except Palma de Mallorca.

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines offer regular scheduled and charter flights at Dortmund Airport:

Statistics

thumb|right|Direct flight destinations from Dortmund Airport (Apr 2026)

thumb|Terminal exterior

thumb|Terminal interior

thumb|Air traffic control tower

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: right;"

! style="width:50px" |

! style="width:120px" | Passengers

! style="width:100px" | Movements

! style="width:100px" |

!2001

|1,064,149 || 37,393 || 257

!2002

| 994,478 || 33,812 || 289

!2003

| 1,023,329 || 29,788 || 96

!2004

| 1,179,028 || 25,743 || 75

!2005

| 1,742,911 || 30,672 || 58

!2006

| 2,019,651 || 32,785 || 37

!2007

| 2,155,057 || 32,223 || 40

!2008

| 2,329,440 || 29,555 || 35

!2009

| 1,711,157 || 24,043 || 21

!2010

| 1,747,731 || 24,232 || 33

!2011

| 1,814,246 || 26,391 || 26

!2012

| 1,896,885 || 22,634 || 4

!2013

| 1,924,386 || 23,809 || 2

!2014

| 1,964,625 || 22,202 || 0

!2015

| 1,985,379 || 23,616 || 0

!2016

| 1,918,845 || 21,719 || 0

!2017

| 2,000,695 || 21,931 || 0

!2018

| 2,284,202 || 25,523 || 0

!2019

| 2,719,566 || 26,948 || 0

!2020

| 1,220,624 || 18,983 || 4

!2021

| 1,692,960 || 31,039 || 0

!2022

| 2,586,238 || 36,258 || 0

!2023

| 2,934,516

| colspan="5" style="text-align:right;"| <sup>Source: ADV German Airports Association</sup>

Ground transportation

To Dortmund and the Ruhr area

Dortmund Airport is served by an express bus to Dortmund main station, a shuttle bus to the nearby railway station Holzwickede/Dortmund Flughafen, a bus to the city's metro line U47, as well as a bus to the city of Unna.

To Düsseldorf

There are two possibilities to go to Düsseldorf main station:

Heading to Dortmund main station by the AirportExpress bus (or taking bus line 490 to Aplerbeck and then metro line U47). The direct connection from Dortmund central station to Düsseldorf is operated by frequent regional and long-distance trains.
Catching the AirportShuttle bus to nearby Holzwickede station. The shuttle bus leaves every 20 minutes in front of the terminal building. From Holzwickede station taking the RE 13 (Maas-Wupper-Express) towards Venlo. The train runs once every hour and provides a direct connection to Düsseldorf, the travel time is approx. 60 minutes.

Accidents and incidents

On January 22, 1982, a Cessna 404 of RFG – Regionalflug on a ferry flight from Düsseldorf landing at Dortmund Airport veered off the runway, crashed into a hangar, and caught fire. The 58-year-old pilot, the sole occupant, was killed. At least four other aircraft in the hangar were destroyed or damaged. The altimeter was incorrectly set due to the pilot's visual impairment.
On the evening of November 20, 1985, a private Cessna 421 coming from Vienna crashed about 1 kilometer short of the runway while attempting to land in bad weather. All four occupants were killed.
On 3 January 2010, Air Berlin Flight 2450, operated by a Boeing 737-800 (D-ABKF) overran the end of the runway after an aborted take-off at high speed due to an airspeed discrepancy on the two pilots' instruments. There were no injuries among the 171 people on board.
On 5 December 2022, a Ryanair Boeing 737 landing at Dortmund Airport overran the end of the runway, which was wet and slightly covered with snow. None of the 175 people on board were injured.

References

External links

Accident history for DTM at Aviation Safety Network