Hof–Plauen Airport

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The Hof-Plauen Airport is a commercial airport five kilometers southwest of the city of Hof an der Saale in the northeastern Bavaria.

History

Flight operations on the high Saas

In 1920 the newly founded association used for aeronautical new designs with a chapter of the German Air Sports Association is an increased area on the western outskirts of the city court, the High Saas, for his flying activities. The expansion of the site to the airfield brought after 1928 for some years a line connection on the track Fürth -Hof -Leipzig. The airfield was until the end of World War II in 1945 in operation and has also been used by the Air Force for intermediate landings of the Junkers Ju 52/3m. On the High Saas is since 1945 a radar station in the U.S. Army, which was acquired in 1990 by the German armed forces.

Post-war period

Founded in 1950, The Aero Club Court found a suitable area near the village of Pirk, five kilometers south-west of the yard. After four years of planning, the operations could be taken on an asphalt track with 720 meters in 1968. The further expansion of the airfield with tower, farm buildings, hangars and extensions of the start and runway as well as the installation of instrument landing systems began.

Recording of scheduled and charter flights in 1972

Since 1972, daily flights to Frankfurt are offered, from 1985 to 1992 mostly with the Dornier Do 228 and then with modern turboprop aircraft of the types Dash 8 and ATR 42 Since the 1980s, the airport Hof-Plauen was in the charter traffic involved. The tour operator TUI, Neckermann and Thomas Cook Group had today Hof-Plauen all year listed in their catalogs as departure airport. In the best years were up to ten rounds per week in the program. Objectives were, among others, Mallorca, Crete, Rhodes, Tunisia and the Spanish mainland. Briefly, there was next to the scheduled flight to Frankfurt / Main, a connection to Munich.

The offered with the BAe 146 charter program to the holiday destinations on the Mediterranean had to be stopped despite good bookings in 2002, as the existing runway in Hof an der Saale at 1480 meters in length for the used in charter traffic machines, such as the Boeing 737, was too short.

The airfield was until 1998 a director operating under the direction of the building department of the city of Hof (Saale ). When it was foreseeable that the use of the machines BAe 146, which are indeed capable with four engines, for short runways, but in Charter were not competitive, would be set, it was an attempt to reschedule these otherwise loss-making operation and the necessary financial resources to obtain. The extension for a year-round charter service to popular tourist destinations was sought. A limited liability company would be established in which to have joined the city of Hof (Saale ), the city of Plauen in Vogtland, the county court, the county Wunsiedel, the Vogtland district and representatives of the regional economy, legally secured in a general partnership to this to achieve target.

Airlines and destinations

As of November 2011, there were just a regular line connection at the Hof-Plauen Airport. Cirrus Airlines operated for and on behalf of Lufthansa Regional, Monday to Friday twice a day the distance from Hof ​​to Frankfurt am Main with a Dornier 328-100. The compound was flown Lufthansa Regional Augsburg Airways also already ( November 1998-October 2008 ) and Contact Air ( October 2008-March 2010 ). In October 2010, however, Cirrus Airlines announced that due to lack of profitability adjust the route after just one year from April 1, 2011. On 29 April 2011, however, decided that the regional airline will remain until March 2013, but with only two instead of three daily connections to Frankfurt. New and old operator was Cirrus Airlines, the only competitor for the track was the East Frisian air transport. In January 2012, but was also the route Frankfurt court set under the single setting of Cirrus Airlines. As announced in May 2012, they will no longer be re-advertised and subsidized.

The Bayreuth and Hof (Saale) based Fair Air GmbH offers charter flights as an air taxi from Hof-Plauen Airport.

Statistics

The figures for passenger numbers refer to the lines and package travel.

According to a press release by the Bavarian State Ministry of May 21, 2012, the passenger volume at the Hof-Plauen Airport was only 7,700 people in 2011. Responsible for this development, the reduced Frankfurt connection, offered by Cirrus Airlines.

Expansion plans

To allow an extension of the flight offer for passengers and a modernization and improvement to promote the competitiveness of the airfield, the start and runway should be built at 2480 meters from - or newly. The plan approval processes for this purpose began in early 2006. The need for these plans is controversial.

Despite financial commitments from the state budget in Bavaria Critics see the expansion of the airfield a bad planning, because the airports in Nuremberg, Halle- Leipzig, Dresden, Erfurt and Karlovy Vary are located in the Czech Republic only about 110 to 180 km from the yard and the number of passengers is not sufficient could be for a profitable operation. The operator of the airport company justify the need for expansion of the airport with a high bill, which predicted the airfield 140,000 and up to 300,000 passengers in 2020. It is based on the impressive passenger numbers of charter programs in the good economic 1990s and held on to the expansion plans for the start and runway.

After a conversation with the then Bavarian Minister Erwin Huber on February 28, 2007, the impression that required by the Federal Aviation Authority requirements for an airfield expansion can be met partially emerged. Hamburg International and the Frog Touristik GmbH had shown interest in using the airfield after removal of the charter. This promoted a positive planning decision in more detail.

On 19 June 2007, the Office of Aviation northern Bavaria refused based in Nuremberg from the expansion plan. The operator of the aerodrome accused the makers, not objectively decide what the authority and elected officials deny the policy. The interest in the expansion of the airfield investor group BCD Holdings had bought in the nearby town of Aš in the Czech Republic a building surface for the construction of an industrial park.

An action of the operator of the aerodrome against the aviation Office Northern Bavaria failed. The airfield has since been modernized, the slope and the increased run- renovated, paved and a new hangar built in 2008 /2009. Stations and operating space for AvGas ( aviation fuel ) as well as JET -A1 (kerosene ) were built. Outside the airfield was a parking lot with 196 parking spaces. The drop-off area in front of the terminal was remodeled and modernized the Tower.