Stuttgart Airport

First years and World War II

The airport was built in 1939 to replace Böblingen Airport. In 1945, the United States Army took over the airport until returning it to German authorities in 1948.

For the duration of the Cold War the runway and facilities were shared with the United States Army who operated helicopters, the Grumman OV-1 Mohawk and other fixed wing aircraft as Echterdingen Army Airfield on the southern portion of the airfield. Some of the units operating at Echterdingen were headquartered at nearby Nellingen Kaserne- now closed and redeveloped. In 1984-5, the 223rd Aviation Battalion (Combat) of the 11th Aviation Group (Combat) was headquartered at Echterdingen, with three aviation companies assigned (one at Schwäbisch Hall). The U.S. Army still maintains a small helicopter base - Stuttgart Army Airfield - on the southern side of the airport, which it shares with the Baden-Württemberg State Police helicopter wing. The police helicopter wing falls under the control of Stuttgart Police Department and has six modern helicopters based at Stuttgart and two in Söllingen.

Later development

The airport was expanded after World War II. The runway was extended to 1,800 m (5,906 ft) in 1948, then to 2,250 m (7,382 ft) in 1961 and finally to 3,345 m (10,974 ft) in 1996.

The original 1938 terminal was finally replaced in 2004 and there are now four terminals with a maximum capacity of approximately 12 million passengers.

Politicians, town planners and nearby residents have been arguing for years about the construction of a second runway. However, on 25 June 2008 Minister-President Günther Oettinger announced that for the next 8–12 years no second runway will be built and that the restrictions for night operations stay in place.

After the death of former mayor Manfred Rommel in November 2013 local politicians proposed to rename the airport after him. This proposal caused public disputes as he was the son of Erwin Rommel but also highly respected for his work on intercultural affairs. In July 2014 it has been announced that the airport will be named Flughafen Stuttgart - Manfred Rommel Flughafen from now on.

In September 2014, United Airlines cancelled their route to Stuttgart from Newark due to insufficient demand leaving Stuttgart Airport with only one remaining long-haul connection to Atlanta provided by Delta Air Lines. However, Air Berlin announced the start of a new second long-haul service with flights to Abu Dhabi from December 2014.

In October 2014, easyJet announced to serve Stuttgart as their seventh German destination by March 2015. In December 2014, Ryanair also announced Stuttgart as a new destination of their network serving six weekly flights between Stuttgart and Manchester from April 2015.

On 31 May 2016, Stuttgart Airport lost one of its two long-haul routes when Air Berlin ceased its flights to Abu Dhabi. In September 2016, the airport announced a new branding and corporate design changing its official name from Flughafen Stuttgart to Stuttgart Airport.

In October 2016, Air Berlin announced to close its maintenance facilities at the airport due to cost cutting and restructuring measures.

Terminals

Stuttgart Airport consists of four passenger terminals which have separate check-in facilities and entrances but are directly connected to each other and share a single airside area which features eight Jet bridges as well as about two dozen bus-boarding stands.

Passenger

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

Car

There are two major highways: Just north of the airport runs the Bundesautobahn 8 (A8), which connects the cities of Karlsruhe and Stuttgart to Ulm, Augsburg and Munich. The Bundesstraße 27 (B27) leads to downtown Stuttgart, as well as to Tübingen and Reutlingen in the South.

Coach

From the regional cities of Esslingen am Neckar, Reutlingen and Tübingen exists a connection by coach. Additionally, German long-distance coach operators ADAC Postbus, DeinBus and Flixbus maintain their stop for Stuttgart on the airport grounds with direct connections to several major cities.

Suburban railway

Stuttgart Airport can be easily reached within 30 minutes from the city's main railway station using the Stuttgart suburban railway S2 or S3 from Stuttgart Flughafen/Messe station.

Future long-distance railway

It is planned to connect the airport with the future Stuttgart - Ulm high-speed railway line currently under construction as part of the major Stuttgart 21 railway redevelopment program. Therefore a new long-distance train station will be built on the airport's grounds near the existing suburban railway station. The new station, which will be served by ICE high-speed trains will be connected to the new line by an underground loop track. The Stuttgart-Ulm line is scheduled to be opened in 2020 while the new airport connection is planned to be inaugurated in 2022.

Accidents and incidents