- Maastricht Aachen Airport
Infobox Airport
name = Maastricht Aachen Airport
nativename =
IATA = MST
ICAO = EHBK
type = Public
owner =
operator =
city-served =Maastricht andAachen
location =Beek ,Netherlands
elevation-f = 375
elevation-m = 114
coordinates = nowrap|coord|50|54|41|N|005|46|12|E|type:airport_region:NL
website = [http://www.maa.nl/ www.maa.nl]
metric-rwy = y
r1-number = 03/21
r1-length-m = 2,500
r1-length-f = 8,202
r1-surface =Asphalt
footnotes = Source:DAFIF WAD|EHBK|source=DAFIF ] GCM|MST|source=DAFIF ]Maastricht Aachen Airport airport codes|MST|EHBK is a regional
airport nearMaastricht ,The Netherlands , and not far fromAachen ,Germany . Its geographical location is coord|50|54|57|N|5|46|37|E| in the municipality ofBeek .It is the second-largest hub for cargo flights in the Netherlands. As of
2006 , the airport had a passenger throughput of 293,000 and handled 77,000ton s of cargo. [ cite web |url= http://www.maa.nl/en/content.asp?i=246 |title= MAA website (Facts & Figures) |accessdate=2008-06-03 ]The Maastricht Upper Area Control centre (MUAC) of
EUROCONTROL is also located on the airport. Facilities available at the airport include a restaurant, hotel, sight-seeing flights, aviation medical centre, taxi company, viewing platform and long term parking.The number of aircraft movements decreased significantly between 2005 and 2007 compared to previous years because the flight school, "Nationale Luchtvaart School", which was based at the airport, moved all flight operations to
Évora inPortugal . In the summer of 2007, flight training at the airport resumed as the "Stella Aviation Acedemy" moved into the facilities previously used by the NLS. In 2007, there were a total of 19,454 aircraft movements, up 35% from 2006 [ cite book |title=Jaarverslag 2007 (Yearly Report 2007) |author=Air Traffic Control the Netherlands |date=2008-04-11 ]Airlines
Ryanair flies from Maastricht with a scheduled service toGirona , Valencia andAlicante . There was also aVolareweb service to Milan. Especially during the summer season, the airport is also used by various charter airlines such astransavia.com . It is also frequently used by private jets, especially during the annualTEFAF ("The European Fine Art Fair") in Maastricht. AirlineseasyJet ,Blue Air andVolareweb previously had services toBerlin ,Bucharest andMilan respectively.Various cargo airlines fly from Maastricht Aachen airport, such as
Cargolux ,Air Bridge Cargo ,RAF-Avia andTurkish Airlines which have scheduled services. A significant amount of traffic is also related to the presence of aircraft maintenance and painting facilities at the airport.Developments
In July 2004, a 100% share in the airport was acquired by OmDV, a consortium of airport investment company "Omniport" and the construction company "Dura Vermeer", making it the first fully privatised airport in the Netherlands. [ cite web |url= http://www.maa.nl/en/content.asp?i=248 |title= MAA website (Shareholders page) |accessdate=2008-04-11 ]
Substantial investments in the airport infrastructure have been made since the privatisation. Between August and October 2005, the runway was resurfaced and renamed to 03/21 (from 04/22) to compensate for changes in the
earth's magnetic field . The airport originally had two runways; the second (shorter, 1.080m) runway (07/25) was closed and removed to make room for a new cargo terminal and additional aircraft maintenance facilities. Construction of the new facilities started in April 2008.The
Instrument Landing System (ILS) for runway 21 was upgraded to category III in 2008, which allows landings in very low visibility conditions.Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is the only other airport in the Netherlands that has category III ILS.Airlines and destinations
cheduled
*
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines
**operated byKLM Cityhopper (Amsterdam) [ends 25 October]
*Ryanair (Alicante, Girona, Valencia)Charter
*
Corendon Airlines (Antalya)
*Sky Airlines (Antalya)
*transavia.com (Faro, Heraklion, Kos, Las Palmas, Malaga, Palma de Mallorca, Rhodos, Tenerife-South)Cargo Airlines
*
Cargolux (Luxembourg, Nairobi)
*Turkish Airlines (Istanbul-Atatürk)
*Pskovavia (Pskov )
*Amapola Flyg (Stockholm)
*Air Bridge Cargo (Moscow ,Shanghai )
*RAF-Avia (Coventry)References
External links
* [http://www.maa.nl/ Maastricht Aachen Airport] , official site
* [http://www.mst-aviation.nl/portal/ MST Aviation] .Aircraft spotter s website for MAA.
* [http://www.omniport.co.uk/ Omniport website]
* [http://www.duravermeer.nl/ Dura Vermeer website] (Dutch)
* [http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?placesearch=Maastricht%20%2F%20Aachen%20%28-%20Beek%20%2F%20Zuid%20Limburg%29%20%28MST%20%2F%20EHBK%29&distinct_entry=true Airliners.net] - photos taken at Maastricht Aachen airport
* [http://www.chapman-freeborn.com/news/articles/080418c.aspx Report on largest ever horse flight from Maastricht Aachen Airport]*NWS-current|EHBK
*ASN|MST
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