Summary
Sylt Airport (IATA: GWT, ICAO: EDXW) is the airport on the German island of Sylt located in the municipality of the same name. It mostly features summer seasonal scheduled traffic to major German cities as well as general aviation and gliding. Sometimes the airport is referred to as Westerland/Sylt named after Westerland, a well-known part of the municipality of Sylt which however is not the nearest settlement to the airport.
Sylt Airport Flughafen Sylt | |||||||||||||||
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| Summary | |||||||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||||||
| Operator | Flughafen Sylt GmbH | ||||||||||||||
| Serves | Sylt, Germany | ||||||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 51 ft / 16 m | ||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 54°54′48″N 008°20′26″E / 54.91333°N 8.34056°E | ||||||||||||||
| Website | flughafen-sylt.de | ||||||||||||||
| Map | |||||||||||||||
  EDXW Location of Sylt Airport in Schleswig-Holstein | |||||||||||||||
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| Statistics (2022) | |||||||||||||||
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History edit
The island of Sylt was a famous destination for leisure and holidays in the early 20th century. Sylt's first small airport was established right after World War I, and in 1919 the first scheduled routes to Weimar, Hamburg and Berlin commenced.[3] As Germany had lost the mainland port serving Sylt due to the Treaty of Versailles, the airport became an important way for travelers to avoid entering Denmark, before the construction of the "Hindenburg causeway" linking Sylt to the mainland by railway.
During World War II the airport was significantly redeveloped and enlarged to serve as a military base. After the war, it became RAF Sylt and was used for weapons and other training until closure in late 1961.[4] In the 1960s the leisure traffic came back and developed strongly from the 1970s onwards.[3]
In 1990 Sylt Airport received new technical equipment as well as new passenger facilities.[3] Today it is capable of handling medium-sized aircraft such as the Boeing 737.
In June 2015, Lufthansa CityLine announced the expansion of their services to Sylt: instead of being seasonal, flights from Frankfurt and Munich are now operated year-round.[5] easyJet announced in April 2019 that they would launch weekly flights throughout the summer season to their base in Berlin.[6]
Airlines and destinations edit
The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Sylt Airport:[7]
| Airlines | Destinations |
|---|---|
| Eurowings | Düsseldorf Seasonal: Stuttgart |
| Lufthansa | Seasonal: Frankfurt, Munich |
| Luxair | Seasonal: Luxembourg[8] |
| Rhein-Neckar Air | Seasonal: Mannheim[9] Seasonal charter: Kassel[10] |
| Swiss International Air Lines | Seasonal: Zürich |
| Sylt Air | Seasonal: Hamburg |
The nearest larger international airport is Billund Airport in Denmark, approx. 135 kilometres (84 mi) (by road) to the north. Hamburg Airport is approx. 220 kilometres (140 mi) to the south.
Statistics edit
| Passengers | |
|---|---|
| 2010 | 210,000[11] |
| 2011 |  217,500[12]
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| 2012 |  176,000[13]
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| 2013 | 175,000[14]
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| 2015 | unknown |
| 2016 | unknown |
| 2017 | unknown |
| 2018 | 129,000[15]
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| 2019 | 140,000[15]
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| 2020 | 85,979[16]
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| 2021 | 101,991[16]
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| 2022 | 119,763[17]
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See also edit
References edit
- ^ "ADV Monthly Traffic Report 12/2022" (PDF; 919 KB). adv.aero (in German). Arbeitsgemeinschaft Deutscher Verkehrsflughäfen e.V. 2023-02-13. Retrieved 2023-02-17.
- ^ "AIP VFR online". dfs.de. DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung GmbH. Retrieved 2023-02-21.
- ^ a b c flughafen-sylt.de - Historie (in German)
- ^ "RAF Sylt Association".
- ^ "Lufthansa verbindet ihre Drehkreuze auch im Winter mit Sylt".
- ^ easyjet.com retrieved 8 February 2021
- ^ "www.flughafen-sylt.de". Retrieved 2 September 2020.
- ^ "Flüge von und nach Sylt: Neue Fluglinie verbindet die Nordseeinsel ab Mai mit Luxemburg | SHZ.de". 16 September 2021.
- ^ flyrna.com - "Flugplan" (German) retrieved 18 January 2023
- ^ kassel-sylt.de (German) retrieved 18 January 2023
- ^ airliners.de Erneut Rekordjahr am Flughafen Sylt (in German)
- ^ "Flughafen Sylt mit mehr Passagieren".
- ^ chr (12 May 2022). "Insel-Flughafen: Airlines fliegen nicht auf Sylt ab - shz.de".
- ^ "Sylter Spiegel - Aktuelles von der Insel". www.sylter-spiegel.de.
- ^ a b "Luftverkehr - Sylt: Deutliches Plus bei Passagierzahlen am Sylter Flughafen". www.sueddeutsche.de. 29 December 2019.
- ^ a b "ADV-Monatsstatistik Dezember 2021" (PDF). www.adv.aero.
- ^ "ADV-Monatsstatistik Dezember 2022" (PDF). www.adv.aero.
External links edit
Media related to Sylt Airport at Wikimedia Commons
- Official website
- Current weather for EDXW at NOAA/NWS
- Accident history for GWT at Aviation Safety Network
