Cologne Bonn Airport (German: Flughafen Köln/Bonn „Konrad Adenauer“, also known as Flughafen Köln-Wahn) (IATA: CGN, ICAO: EDDK) is the international airport of Germany's fourth-largest city Cologne, and also serves Bonn, former capital of West Germany. With around 12.4 million passengers passing through it in 2017, it is the seventh-largest passenger airport in Germany and the third-largest in terms of cargo operations. By traffic units, which combines cargo and passengers, the airport is in fifth position in Germany. As of March 2015, Cologne Bonn Airport had services to 115 passenger destinations in 35 countries. It is named after Konrad Adenauer, a Cologne native and the first post-war Chancellor of West Germany.
The airport is located in the district of Porz and is surrounded by the Wahner Heide nature reserve. The airport is centrally located in the Cologne Bonn Region 14.8 km southeast of Cologne city centre and 16 km northeast of Bonn. Cologne Bonn Airport is one of the country's few 24-hour airports and serves as a hub for Eurowings, FedEx Express and UPS Airlines as well as a focus city for several leisure and low-cost airlines. It is also a host of the German and European space agencies DLR and EAC, part of ESA, which train astronauts there for space explorations.
History :
In 1913, the first plane took off from the Wahner Heide military training area on an artillery reconnaissance flight. In 1939 an airfield was built for the German Luftwaffe.
After World War II the British military took over and expanded the airport (as RAF Wahn). A 1,866 m runway was built in this period. In 1951 the airport was opened for civilian air traffic, superseding the former Cologne Butzweilerhof Airport.
During the 1950s and 1960s two additional runways and a new passenger terminal were constructed. On 1 November 1970 a Boeing 747 took off for New York City from the airport for the first time.
Cologne Bonn Airport was chosen by United Parcel Service (UPS) in 1986 as the location for their European hub.
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