Airport Friedrichshafen

Location
The airport is about 4 km or 2 miles north east of the inner city. Motorists should take the national A road 30/31. The station "Airport Friedrichshafen" is directly in front of the airport terminal, with trains to Basel and Ulm.

Regular shuttle bus transport is provided by the bus number 18 to Messe Ost, the DB bus "Montfort Linie"- 7586 to Tettnang and the amusement parks "Ravensburger Spieleland" and "Mini Mundus" in Liebenau and various transport companies to a number of cities and towns in the surrounding area, such as Arosa, Basel, Bregenz, Brigels, Chur, Davos, Konstanz, Lenzerheide, Lichtenstein, Meersburg, or Ulm.

There is also a daily Catamaran connection between Constance and Friedrichshafen. The journey takes about 50 minutes. All current timetable details are available locally or on the internet.

History
Opened in 1913, the airport is one of the largest airports in Baden-Württemberg, with a total area of 150 hectares. At the beginning of the 20th century, the search began for a suitable location to train the airship crew of the Zeppelin works. The first airship hangar was completed in 1915 and the first Zeppelin test flights took place in the same year.

First commercial scheduled flights from Friedrichshafen were operated in 1929 by Lufthansa. NSDAP plans to extend the airport were never enforced as the resident aircraft industry was heavily damaged by the allied forces. After the war, the French allies took over the airport and over the years repaired the war damage. They also extended the runways and built new terminals.

In 1992, after the French withdrew, the Government drew up plans to modernise the grounds for future use. Only two years later, the new runway was completed. Extensive rebuilding work also took place in order to bring the airport completely up to date. In 1998, the Federal Republic of Germany finally sold the airport to its current owner, the Flughafen Friedrichshafen GmbH.