Magdeburg-Cochstedt Airport
Magdeburg-Cochstedt Airport |
|
|---|---|
.jpg)
|
|
| Characteristics | |
| ICAO code | EDBC |
| IATA code | CSO |
| Coordinates | |
| Height above MSL | 183 m (600 ft ) |
| Transport links | |
| Distance from the city center | 35 km southwest of Magdeburg |
| Street |
  
|
| Local transport | Bus 144 to Egeln (20 min.) And Aschersleben (25 min., Connection to the DB ) |
| Basic data | |
| opening | 1957 |
| operator | German Aerospace Center |
| Terminals | 1 |
| Passengers | approx. 70,000 (2011)
approx. 40,000 (2012) |
| Air freight | k. A. |
| Flight movements |
k. A. |
| Capacity ( PAX per year) |
800,000 |
| Employees | 0 (August 2017) |
| Runways | |
| 08/26 | 2500 m × 45 m asphalt |
| 08/26 | 800 m × 40 m grass |
The airport Magdeburg-Cochstedt ( IATA code CSO , ICAO code EDBC ) is a commercial airport in Saxony-Anhalt . It is located around 35 kilometers south-south-west of Magdeburg in the Salzlandkreis in the district of the city of Hecklingen, south of what is now the Cochstedt district . The next larger towns are Aschersleben and Staßfurt .
With the suspension of the operating license, the airport has been temporarily closed since September 1, 2016. The German Aerospace Center has owned the site since June 2019 and would like to use the airport as a test site for unmanned aerial vehicles, among other things.
history
Development until 1990
Cochstedt Airport dates back to 1957, when the group of Soviet armed forces in Germany set up a base for their air forces on the site . In 1968 the runway was extended and the airport expanded for logistics operations.
Development in the 1990s
After German reunification and the withdrawal of the Soviet troops, the Aschersleben / Staßfurt Economic Development Corporation initiated the first steps towards the continued existence of the facility as a civilian airport. On May 26, 1994, the airport was granted an operating license as a commercial airport with control zone airspace D and approved operating time H24, i.e. for unrestricted day and night operations. During the new construction of the flight operations areas and the control tower from November 1997 to the beginning of 1999, flight operations were suspended.
Development in the 2000s
In June 2000, an instrument landing system and corresponding approach lights were installed and approaches according to all-weather flight operating level CAT I were approved. In summer 2001 a new fire station was put into operation and the construction of a new terminal building for general aviation ( GAT ) began.
From December 31, 2001, airport operations and development were suspended due to the airport operator's bankruptcy. As a result, the construction of the GAT, a security fence, the bypass road and the access gates could not be completed. All leased equipment such as vehicles and apron equipment was returned.
Between 2005 and 2008, events for parachutists with international participation were held at Cochstedt Airport - each summer. Aircraft of the type Antonov An-72 and Antonow An-28 were used.
Since 1 September 2006, the operations in is visual flight possible. The airline Ryanair negotiated with the operating company to operate flights to Palma de Mallorca , Varna , Antalya and Barcelona from 2007 . However, these negotiations failed due to the economic situation in the state of Saxony-Anhalt.
Parallel to the start of visual flight operations in September 2006, the Saxony-Anhalt Ministry of Economic Affairs negotiated with an American investor who wanted to handle international cargo from Cochstedt. However, the Ministry of Economic Affairs failed to check the investor's creditworthiness. It turned out that the alleged investor only had self-made letterhead.
In December 2008, the airport was sold to International Investment House Co. LLC (IIH), an investment group from Abu Dhabi , for 9 million euros . After the approval of the finance committee in January 2009, the investor initially confirmed the sale. The company planned to build a cargo and logistics center. In the medium term, the airport should also be opened to civil and commercial aviation.
Due to financial difficulties, IIH asked for a deferred payment of up to two years in spring 2009, but promised to cover the running costs during this time. After the last payment deadline for the first purchase price installment of one million euros passed on June 30, 2009, the Saxony-Anhalt Minister of Economic Affairs made use of his right of withdrawal and canceled the contract with IIH with effect from July 1, 2009. Up to this point, around 60 million euros had been spent on the expansion and development of Cochstedt Airport.
Development since 2010
On March 3, 2010, Cochstedt Airport was sold for 1.5 million euros to the Danish operating company Airport Development A / S , which already operated the Neuhardenberg and Fürstenwalde / Spree airports . Magdeburg-Cochstedt Airport received its operating license on July 21, 2010. This means that larger passenger and cargo planes can also be handled at the airport. In October 2010, plans were announced to rename the airfield "Airport Magdeburg-Berlin International", which triggered some protests, especially from Berlin. This renaming was stopped by a court in November 2010. With a judgment of March 9, 2011, the Berlin Regional Court confirmed that the name is misleading and misleading about the size, importance and location of the airport. Since then, the name “Airport Magdeburg Cochstedt International” has appeared on the airport website.
On December 22, 2010, the airport announced on its website that the Irish low-cost airline Ryanair will be offering two weekly flights to Alicante, Málaga, Girona and Las Palmas from March 30, 2011. At the same time, Ryanair stopped its flight operations at Leipzig-Altenburg Airport . Since then, the airport owner has improved the infrastructure by expanding the existing terminal building and subjecting it to tests. Ryanair's first scheduled flight took place on March 30, 2011 to Girona / GRO.
Before the 2011/2012 winter season, Ryanair surprisingly announced that it did not want to use the airport and that it would only operate in the summer flight schedule in future, which was also implemented over the next two years. Instead, the airline Germania started offering non-stop flights on Saturdays and Sundays to Hurghada in Egypt and Las Palmas on the Canary Islands from November 2011. The airport company also became active under its own brand CSO City Fly and from December 1, 2011 offered a flight to Munich and back once a working day . 19-seat Metroliners from ProAir were used.
For the 2012 summer flight schedule, Germania flights were discontinued, but Ryanair connections were again offered, but only to Palma de Mallorca and Girona / Barcelona. At the same time, the flights to Munich offered under the CSO City Fly brand were initially extended to Bern . In addition, a larger Saab 340 was used, which offered 33 seats and was operated by the Polish airline Skytaxi. In mid-July, however, these flights under CSO City Fly were completely discontinued due to insufficient capacity utilization.
In the 2012/2013 winter flight schedule, no traffic flights from Cochstedt were offered. In the 2013 summer flight schedule, Ryanair operated scheduled flights again for the third and final summer season in a row. At the end of 2013, Ryanair completely stopped its involvement at the airport. Since then there have been no more regular traffic connections at Cochstedt Airport. Occasionally, however, charter planes continued to take off to various holiday destinations.
In 2010 the liabilities amounted to 1.4 million euros, in 2011 2.6 million euros and in 2012 the airport continued to be in the red. 400,000 passengers would have been necessary for economic operation. In fact, it was only 76,000. Since this did not change until January 2016, the airport filed for bankruptcy in self-administration this month . At the end of August 2016, the transition to regular insolvency proceedings took place .
At the end of August 2016, the State Administration of Saxony-Anhalt suspended the airport's operating license, so that the airport has been temporarily closed since September 1, 2016. On February 28, 2017, the operating permit threatened to finally expire, which could then only be obtained through a new plan approval procedure. The Mitteldeutsche Zeitung wrote : "This would probably take a few years, the airport would certainly no longer receive a 24-hour operating license." Shortly before the deadline, the final withdrawal of the operating license was postponed until the end of August 2017. Amazon and Alibaba were discussed as possible investors . After no investors were found by August 2017 either, the state of Saxony-Anhalt initially gave the airport's insolvency administrator until March 31, 2018, to search for investors and extended this period several times until October 31, 2019.
In November 2017 it became known that the German Aerospace Center was negotiating the purchase of the airport. A so-called “National Test Center for Unmanned Aviation Systems” is to be set up on the site, where package drones and concepts for air taxis are to be tested. On November 8, 2018, the budget committee of the Bundestag released funds for the project. An agreement for purchase or use is still pending.
In 2018 the festival media championships took place on the site.
In June 2019 the airport was sold to the German Aerospace Center (DLR). The previous Danish owner will receive almost 16 million euros from DLR. The land will transfer the money for the purchase back to DLR - spread over several years as institutional funding. The DLR is also investing ten million euros from its own resources. In July 2019, DLR was already using the airport for test measurements of aircraft noise from an Airbus A320 flying overhead.
On October 10, 2019, part of the terminal extension built just a few years ago collapsed.
Criticism of the airport management
The youngest airport management was repeatedly criticized:
- Very often flight connections were announced and advertised that were never implemented, for example by Air Lipsia or Corendon Airlines to Turkey. Even with regard to the flights to Munich and Bern operated under the private label until mid-July 2012, there was talk of a “temporary suspension”, but in fact it was final.
- Private parking and shuttle services that had become established around Cochstedt were later banned from entering the terminal. “You should give them the basic judgment about Frankfurt / Hahn Airport,” commented the shuttle provider from another airport in a newspaper report.
- Until recently, there was a public bus shuttle only to Magdeburg, but not to other nearby cities such as Halle (Saale) , Dessau or Leipzig , where Ryanair had temporarily suspended its flights in favor of Cochstedt. For the use of the bus to Magdeburg, an extensive pre-registration with name and address on the airport website was expected.
Furnishing
terminal
The airport information, a travel center and a counter of a logistics service provider are located in the basement of the terminal. On the upper floor there is a bistro and the visitor terrace as well as two conference rooms.
Six counters are available for check-in. Behind it you get to the two-lane personal security checkpoint and further into the central departure hall with a café and two waiting rooms at the gates. Both the departure area and the arrival area are designed for international flights through the establishment of passport control points and facilities of the security authorities.
A baggage claim belt is available for arriving passengers after arrival.
reachability
Parking spaces have been set up for those arriving by car. A bus shuttle was set up for users of local public transport, which ran on request between the airport and Magdeburg main station until the line connections were discontinued in October 2013 . The operating company forbade private bus and shuttle companies to drive onto the airport premises or to enter the premises to bring or pick up passengers.
See also
Web links
- Website of the DLR site in Cochstedt
- Magdeburg-Cochstedt released for international air traffic
- History of the airport ( Memento from December 24, 2005 in the Internet Archive )
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Airport Cochstedt sold - drone center can come. In: MDR Saxony-Anhalt. June 17, 2019, accessed June 19, 2019 .
- ↑ Ministry of Economy and Labor - press release no .: 018/09 ( memento of September 23, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) of February 2, 2009
- ↑ Ministry of Economy and Labor - Press Release No. 092/09 ( Memento of April 13, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ Volksstimme of July 1, 2009
- ↑ Press release No. 038/10 of the Ministry of Economics and Labor Saxony-Anhalt ( Memento from March 7, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Dörthe Hein: A new airport "in the middle of nothing" In: Sächsische Zeitung , July 22, 2010.
- ↑ The "Airport Magdeburg-Berlin" upsets Berliners. In: The world. October 5, 2010, accessed January 11, 2015 .
- ↑ Steffen Höhne: Cochstedt is to be called “Airport Magdeburg-Berlin” in the future. In: Mitteldeutsche Zeitung. October 4, 2010, accessed January 11, 2015 .
- ↑ Cochstedt Airport may not be named after Berlin In: aero.de , November 4, 2010, accessed on July 18, 2019.
- ↑ Jens O. Brelle: Airport name "Magdeburg-Berlin International" misleading In: Art-Lawyer Magazin , March 21, 2011.
- ^ Website of Magdeburg-Cochstedt Airport , accessed on June 8, 2011.
- ↑ Ryanair starts in 2011 from Cochstedt near Magdeburg. In: Thuringian General. December 22, 2010, accessed January 11, 2015 .
- ↑ Hendrik Kranert-Rydzy, Steffen Höhne: High-flying plans - From Cochstedt to the Mediterranean. In: Mitteldeutsche Zeitung. December 15, 2010, accessed January 11, 2015 .
- ↑ Ryanair interrupts Cochstedt flights. volksstimme.de, September 17, 2012, accessed on January 11, 2015 .
- ↑ Twice a day on weekdays - Cochstedt takes on Munich flights In: airliners.de , December 1, 2011, accessed on July 18, 2019.
- ↑ Two routes are canceled - Cochstedt loses Germania In: airliners.de , March 16, 2012, accessed on July 18, 2019.
- ↑ From the end of May - Cochstedt extends Munich route In: airliners.de , April 19, 2012, accessed on July 18, 2019.
- ↑ a b Laura Frommberg: CSO City Fly takes time out In: aerotelegraph.com , July 3, 2012, accessed on July 18, 2019.
- ↑ Ryanair withdraws from Magdeburg-Cochstedt Airport In: airliners.de , December 13, 2013.
- ↑ Cochstedt writes deep red numbers. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on March 27, 2013 ; Retrieved May 20, 2013 .
- ↑ Magdeburg / Cochstedt Airport negotiates with investors after filing for insolvency. airliners.de, April 11, 2016, accessed on August 29, 2016 .
- ↑ Next step in the insolvency proceedings at Cochstedt Airport. airliners.de, August 24, 2016, accessed on August 29, 2016 .
- ↑ Steffen Höhne: No rescue from the state: Cochstedt Airport is threatened with liquidation. In: mz-web.de. September 9, 2016, accessed July 18, 2019 .
- ↑ Dominik Bath: Cochstedt / Magdeburg: Amazon and Alibaba approaching? In: volksstimme.de. February 23, 2017, accessed July 18, 2019 .
- ↑ Magdeburg / Cochstedt Airport gets more time. airliners.de, August 24, 2017, accessed September 25, 2017 .
- ↑ Magdeburg-Cochstedt Airport: operating permit extended again . In: Mitteldeutsche Zeitung of April 30, 2019
- ↑ Dominik Bath: Drones are supposed to save Cochstedt. In: volksstimme.de. November 11, 2017, accessed February 6, 2018 .
- ↑ Steffen Höhne: Unmanned aerial vehicles. Cochstedt Airport becomes DLR drone center. Mitteldeutsche Zeitung, November 9, 2018, accessed on November 13, 2018 .
- ^ Medi championships in Cochstedt. Airport shines brightly again. Mitteldeutsche Zeitung, June 8, 2018, accessed on November 13, 2018 .
- ↑ Nora Stuhr: Cochstedt / Staßfurt / Hecklingen: Test run so that flying becomes quieter. In: volksstimme.de. July 17, 2019, accessed July 18, 2019 .
- ↑ René Kiel, Volksstimme Magdeburg: Airport terminal collapsed near Cochstedt. Retrieved October 13, 2019 .
- ↑ Andreas Radeck: Germania & Corendon save Airport Cochstedt In: bild.de , October 6, 2011, accessed on July 18, 2019.
- ^ A b Franziska Richter: Airport slows down bus companies. In: volksstimme.de. August 30, 2011, accessed July 18, 2019 .
- ↑ Overview of the parking spaces ( Memento from November 27, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) airport-cochstedt.de .
