Frankfurt–Hahn Airport

Geschichte

Frankfurt–Hahn Airport is an international airport located 10km from the town of Kirchberg and 20km from the town of Simmern in the Rhein-Hunsrück district of Rhineland-Palatinate to the west of central Germany.Despite the name, the airport is about equidistant between Frankfurt and Luxembourg – about 120km to each city by road. It is closer to the German cities of Koblenz at about 70km and Mainz at about 90km. The airport officially changed the name from Hahn to Frankfurt–Hahn at the same time as Ryanair started flying there. In 2002 Lufthansa took out legal proceedings against Ryanair, claiming the usage of "Frankfurt" in the airport's name to be deceptive advertising, however Lufthansa lost; in a similar case regarding another airport name Ryanair lost. Until 2009 the airport was owned by Fraport, which also operates Frankfurt Airport. In 2016 Frankfurt Hahn Airport served 2.60 million passengers slightly down from 2.66 million in 2015.HistoryMilitary pastDuring the Cold War Hahn Air Base was a frontline air base, and home of the United States Air Force 50th Fighter Wing (in various designations) for most of those years as part of the United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE). It was one of several USAFE bases in Germany (Zweibrücken, Ramstein, Sembach, Bitburg, Spangdahlem, and Rhein-Main) all within 100km of each other. Beyond their location in the heart of US troop concentrations, these air bases were well situated to reach all locations within Europe and the Mediterranean region.