Groningen Airport Eelde

Groningen Airport Eelde is a minor international airport in the northeastern Netherlands. It is located near Eelde in the Province of Drenthe, south of the city of Groningen in the province of Groningen.

On 13 July 1928 the community's council agreed on a proposal to allocate the 'Hakenkampsveld', a 12 hectare terrain within the municipality of Eelde, as an airport. The airport was officially opened by mayor Jan Gerard Legro on 23 May 1931. 40,000 visitors watched the air show, which was held to celebrate the opening. On 15 August that year the first scheduled service between Eelde and Amsterdam/Schiphol started, which did not appear to be viable.

The airfield returned to NV Luchtvaartterrein Noord-Nederland. The national government shouldered most of the cost of restoring the damaged drainage system in the airfield. The government subsidized further developments at the airport so that it could meet international standards and remain registered for aviation.

The airport was appointed as an alternative airport for flights bound for Amsterdam/Schiphol in 1948. To cater for these deviating aircraft, a new base plan had to be designed for the levelling and drainage of the runways (with an 1,800 metres long main runway and a secondary runway measuring 1,500 metres), taxiways and apron. The new runways were finally ready for service in 1953, making the site an official aerodrome.

1950s

On 16 August 1954 the Rijksluchtvaartschool (RLS) – or National Aviation Academy in English – moved to the airport from Gilze-Rijen. The KLM would acquire ownership of the RLS in 1991, becoming the KLM Flight Academy. In the course of the next two years after 1954, a flight theory school, the secondary and final flight education as well as other branches transferred to Eelde, making the airport an important aviation training site. The official opening of the airport building complex took place the following year on 15 May, by Prince Bernard.

In 1977, a new passenger terminal opened and more parking space for cars was constructed. Adding to this, a bus link to the city of Groningen was established, improving the airport's accessibility. Work started to expand the apron and add a hangar. In the same year, the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment published the Structural Plan for Civil Aerodromes. This plan stated that an expansion of the main runway by 500 metres should be undertaken. This would make flights of all aircraft types possible.

1980s–1990s

thumb|[[Boeing 737#737-200|Boeing 737-229 of Trans European Airways at the airport in 1988]]

From 1979 to 1982, the buildings housing the State Aviation Service (Rijksluchtvaartdienst) and the meteorological service were modernised. A new air traffic control tower was constructed.

The aerodrome's name was changed once again in 1988, becoming officially "Groningen Airport Eelde NV". This was decided because the airport's international significance had steadily increased over the years.

With the airport becoming more crowded due to holiday flights, it was decided to join the two existing passenger halls together. This created a single departure hall capable of holding 200 passengers. The merge also resulted in an arrivals hall with a conveyor belt. A new car park was added as well. Groningen Airport Eelde received a sum of 2.5 million guilders for a new passage hall. This sum was donated by the European support fund ISP, which was granted by the province of Drenthe. This would finance almost one-third of the costs of the new hall.

In 1997, the Dutch government planned to stop financial support to most regional airports. Despite this, the airport was still entitled to 25 million guilders (about 11.3 million euros) for the expansion of its main runway. On 12 November 1999 the government agreed with the proposal to extend the runway, provided that the flying of training circuits by large aircraft be terminated.

2000s–2010s

thumb|[[Transavia Boeing 737-800 in 2007]]

In April 2000, the majority of the Dutch parliament had no objection against the runway extension, but due to changing environmental legislation and civil objection procedures, it would take 12 more years until the project was actually started.

Prior to the runway extension, Ryanair had operated a scheduled service to London Stansted in 2003. This service attracted many passengers to the airport. Ryanair terminated the service in May 2004. One reason for this was the limited length of the main runway, limiting the aircraft's effective range and maximum load.

In June 2014, UK low-cost carrier Flybe commenced a new year-round service to London-Southend. From March 2018 this service was greatly expanded, from six to 18 flights per week prior to Flybe entering administration and ceasing operations in 2020.

On 19 September 2016, Nordica started operating two flights a day between Groningen and Copenhagen. In November 2018, Nordica announced it would close its base in Groningen by December, shutting down the year-round routes to Copenhagen and Munich as well as seasonal services to Ibiza and Nice.

On 4 March 2019, flights to Copenhagen resumed, now carried out by AIS Airlines with 19-seat BAe Jetstream 32 aircraft, however these routes are no longer active

Runways

Groningen Airport Eelde has two asphalt paved runways but only runway 05/23 is in use. It measures , which was extended from 1,800 meters in 2013. Only runway 23 has a DME/ILS (localizer at 109,9 MHz, no markers).

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights to and from Groningen: