Lelystad Airport (IATA: LEY, ICAO: EHLE) is an airport 3.5 NM (6.5 km; 4.0 mi) south southeast of the city of Lelystad in the Netherlands. It is the biggest general aviation airport in the Netherlands. The first flights were in 1971 and it became an official airport in 1973. Schiphol Group became owner of the airport in 1993. It is home to the aviation museum Aviodrome, which has a former KLM Boeing 747-200 on display.
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History
In 1966 it was decided that the newly created Flevopolder required one central airport. A suitable location with room for future expansion was found to the south of Lelystad. The first flights from this location took place in 1971, but it was not until 1973 that it received official status as an airport.
At first Lelystad had grass taxi- and runways, but it was found that the clay could not support all the traffic, and tracks started to form. Because of the often poor condition of the terrain, the airport suffered from frequent closure. To resolve this problem, in 1978 the first of the taxiways was hardened and in 1981 the runway was hardened. In 1991 the runway length was increased to 1,250 metres (4,101 ft), to try to attract more business aircraft.
In 1993 the Schiphol Group became the owner of the airport. The Aviodrome museum moved to Lelystad Airport from Schiphol in 2003. Local flying school AIS Flight Academy started an airline in 2009, AIS Airlines, and is still headquartered at Lelystad Airport, although they do not operate any scheduled flights from Lelystad.
Because of the museum, various aviation events are frequently held at the airport.
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Expansion
An expansion of the airport is underway and will include an extension of the runway (05-23) to a total length of 2700 meters with a TORA of 2460 meters and a ASDA of 2700 meters. Long enough to facilitate all aircraft of the Boeing 737 and Airbus 320 families, but also suitable for operations with wide bodies like the Boeing 787 and Airbus 350 although not at maximum take off weight. The new terminal will be built in phases, easily expandable when the airport grows. The first phase will be capable of handling 1.5 million passengers and eventually up to 7 million passengers per year. The same strategy is used for the airside apron with the aircraft stands, starting with 4 stands and ending up at 12 stands or more. The number of allowed aircraft movements is much discussed in The Netherlands and will start the first year of operation at only 4000 a year, which means only around 11 movements daily. It is expected to be discussed much more in the upcoming months/years as the demand is much higher than that. Legally the airport is allowed up to 45.000 movements in the end.
The airport will have its own exit of the motorway A6 which runs to the Amsterdam area which can be reached by car within 40-45 minutes when traffic allows. A public bus service will take you to the train station Lelystad-Centrum where trains run frequently in the direction of Amsterdam, Amsterdam south, Schiphol Airport, The Hague, Zwolle and Groningen. Parking lots will exceed a capacity of 3000 cars in the first phase and will be close to the terminal.
A 10 year concession for all handling (landside and airside) is awarded to Viggo, a Dutch handling company which runs all handling at Eindhoven Airport successfully for many years.
The expansion of Lelystad Airport was driven by the fact that the main airport in The Netherlands, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, is at its maximum allowed aircraft movements and will need to focus on transfers passengers by the KLM group and partners. Lelystad Airport is designed to handle passengers who have Amsterdam/The Netherlands as their destination. Therefore Transavia and Ryanair already expressed interest in operating from this airport. It is to be expected that the airport will offer mostly Citytrip and holiday destinations.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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