Dresden Airport
Dresden Airport (Flughafen Dresden), opened on 11 July 1935, is run by Flughafen Dresden GmbH and lies in the Klotzsche district of Dresden.
What it is
Flughafen Dresden GmbH is a subsidiary of Mitteldeutsche Flughafen AG. The city gives the airport's position as about nine kilometres north of the city centre. Dresden Airport is the English name the operator uses and Flughafen Dresden the German name; since 2008 the airport has also used the brand name “Dresden International”.
History
The airport group's own history says the airport was built after 1933 as a military and transport airport, as part of Germany's rearmament, and that a Luftkriegsschule for training Luftwaffe pilots and officers was built beside it. In the 1950s the GDR built aircraft at Dresden-Klotzsche: from 1955 the airfield was rebuilt with a 2,500-metre runway and two assembly halls, and the VEB Flugzeugwerke produced passenger aircraft.
After a closure for rebuilding, the airport reopened on 31 October 1989. The present terminal opened in March 2001 in a former assembly hall; the underground station opened with it. The runway is 2,850 metres long and 60 metres wide; it was lengthened by 350 metres in 2006 while the airport stayed in operation.