Maastricht Aachen Airport is a regional
airportAn airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport...
located northeast of the city of
MaastrichtMaastricht is a city and a municipality in the southern part of the Dutch province of Limburg, of which it is the capital. The city is situated on both sides of the Meuse river in the south-eastern part of the Netherlands, on the Belgian border and near the German border...
, in the town of
BeekBeek is a municipality and a town in the southeastern Netherlands. Beek has a railway station - Beek-Elsloo railway station.- Population centres :*Beek*Geverik*Groot Genhout*Kelmond*Klein Genhout*Neerbeek*Spaubeek...
, both municipalities in the
LimburgLimburg is the southern-most of the twelve provinces of the Netherlands. It is located in the southeastern part of the country and bordered by Belgium to the south and part of the west, Germany to the east, the Dutch province of North Brabant partly to the west, and the province of Gelderland to...
province in the
NetherlandsThe Netherlands is a country in Northwestern Europe, constituting the major portion of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east...
. The airport is also northwest of
AachenAachen is a historic spa city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was a favoured residence of Charlemagne, and the place of coronation of the medieval Kings of Germany...
, a city in
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
.
It is the second-largest
hubAn airline hub is an airport that an airline uses as a transfer point to get passengers to their intended destination. It is part of a hub and spoke model, where travelers moving between airports not served by direct flights change planes en route to their destinations...
for cargo flights in the Netherlands. As of 2008, the airport had a passenger throughput of 252,000 and handled 87,000
tonThe term ton or tonne generally refers to a unit of mass. However, there exists more than one measure of mass that are named "ton", so one has to be specific when using the term. While they do vary considerably, a ton is generally one of the heaviest units of mass referred to in colloquial speech...
s of cargo.
The Maastricht Upper Area Control Centre (MUAC) of the
European Organisation for the Safety of Air NavigationThe European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation is an international organisation, founded in 1963, whose primary objective is the development of a seamless, pan-European Air Traffic Management system...
(EUROCONTROL) is also located on the airport. Facilities available at the airport include a restaurant, hotel, sight-seeing flights, aviation medical centre, taxi company, viewing platform and long term parking.
The number of aircraft movements decreased significantly between 2005 and 2007 compared to previous years because the flight school,
Nationale Luchtvaart School, which was based at the airport, moved all flight operations to
ÉvoraÉvora is a municipality in Portugal. It has total area of 1,307.0 km² with a population of 553,619 inhabitants. It is the seat of the Évora District and capital of the Alentejo region. The municipality is composed of 19 civil parishes, and is located in Évora District.It contains the city of...
in
PortugalPortugal , officially the Portuguese Republic , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east...
. In the summer of 2007, flight training at the airport resumed as the
Stella Aviation Academy moved into the facilities previously used by the NLS. In 2007, there were a total of 19,454 aircraft movements, up 35% from 2006.
Airlines
Ryanair
flies from Maastricht with a scheduled service to
AlicanteAlicante or Alacant is a city in Spain, the capital of the province of Alicante and of the comarca of the Alacantí, in the southern part of the Valencian Community. It is also a historic Mediterranean port. The population of the city of Alicante proper was 331,750, estimated , ranking as the...
,
PisaPisa is a city in Tuscany, central Italy, on the right bank of the mouth of the Arno River on the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa...
and
GironaGirona is a city in the northeast of Catalonia, Spain at the confluence of the rivers Ter, Onyar, Galligants and Güell with an estimated population of 95,000...
. Especially during the summer season, the airport is also used by various charter airlines such as
Transavia.comTransavia.com is a Netherlands based low-cost airline operating as an independent part of the Air France-KLM group. Its main base is at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol while Rotterdam Airport , Eindhoven Airport and Copenhagen Airport are its secondary bases...
. It is also frequently used by private jets, especially during the annual TEFAF (
The European Fine Art Fair) in Maastricht.
Airlines
Blue AirBlue Air is a low-cost airline based in Bucharest, Romania. It started operations in December 2004 and operates services to European destinations. Its main base is Aurel Vlaicu International Airport, Bucharest's smaller airport, also known as Bucharest Băneasa...
,
EasyJetEasyJet Airline Company Limited is a British airline headquartered in Hangar 89 at London Luton Airport, Luton, Bedfordshire, England. It carries more passengers than any other United Kingdom based airline company, operating domestic and international scheduled services on 387 routes between 104...
, Ryanair and
VolarewebVolareweb.com was a low-cost airline based in Milan-Malpensa International Airport, Italy. It was a subsidiary to Alitalia S.p.A. as CAI-Second and has ceased activity with this name since 12 January 2009....
previously had services to
BucharestBucharest is the capital city, industrial and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmboviţa River....
,
BerlinBerlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million within its city limits, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city and the eighth most populous urban area in the European Union...
, Valencia and
MilanMilan in Italy, is the capital of the region of Lombardia and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while the urban area is the fifth largest in the E.U. with an estimated population of 4.3 million...
respectively.
Various cargo airlines fly from Maastricht Aachen airport, such as AirBridgeCargo Airlines, Atlantic Airlines,
CargoluxCargolux Airlines International S.A., trading as Cargolux, is a cargo airline based in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. It is one of the largest scheduled all-cargo airlines in Europe with a global network. Charter flights and third party maintenance are also operated...
and
Turkish AirlinesTHY - Turkish Airlines, Inc. is the national airline of Turkey, headquartered in Istanbul. It operates a network of scheduled services to 120 international and 37 domestic cities , serving a total of 158 airports, in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas...
which have scheduled services. A significant amount of traffic is also related to the presence of aircraft maintenance and painting facilities at the airport.
Developments
In July 2004, a 100% share in the airport was acquired by OmDV, a consortium of airport investment company
Omniport and the construction company
Dura Vermeer, making it the first fully privatised airport in the Netherlands.
Substantial investments in the airport infrastructure have been made since the privatisation. Between August and October 2005, the runway was resurfaced and renamed to 03/21 (from 04/22) to compensate for changes in the
earth's magnetic fieldEarth's magnetic field is approximately a magnetic dipole, with the magnetic field S pole near the Earth's geographic north pole and the other magnetic field N pole near the Earth's geographic south pole...
. The airport originally had two runways; the second (shorter, ) runway (07/25) was closed and removed to make room for a new cargo
terminalAn airport terminal is a building at an airport where passengers transfer between ground transportation and the facilities that allow them to board and disembark from airplanes....
and additional aircraft maintenance facilities. Construction of the new facilities started in April 2008.
The
instrument landing systemAn instrument landing system is a ground-based instrument approach system that provides precision guidance to an aircraft approaching and landing on a runway, using a combination of radio signals and, in many cases, high-intensity lighting arrays to enable a safe landing during instrument...
(ILS) for runway 21 was upgraded to category III in 2008, which allows landings in very low visibility conditions. Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is the only other airport in the Netherlands that has category III ILS.
Passenger
Cargo
Ground transport connections
- The airport is located along motorway A2
The A2 motorway is a motorway in the Netherlands. The road connects the city of Amsterdam, near the interchange Amstel, with the Belgian border, near Maastricht and Liège , and the Belgian road A25....
, exit 50.
- The nearest railways station is Beek-Elsloo railway station
Beek-Elsloo is a railway station located in Elsloo and near Beek, The Netherlands.-History:The station was opened in 1862 and is located on the Staatslijn E on the Venlo - Maastricht section. The station is operated by Nederlandse Spoorwegen.This station should be used for Maastricht Aachen Airport...
. There is a bus service (line 59), operated by Veolia, between station and airport. Additionally, there is a bus service to the city of Maastricht.
- Taxis are available at the airport.
External links