
Cologne Bonn Airport (German: Flughafen Köln/Bonn „Konrad Adenauer“) (IATA: CGN, ICAO: EDDK) is an international airport in north-western Germany. It serves the country's fourth-largest city Cologne, as well as Bonn, the former capital of West Germany. In 2024, more than 10 million passengers passed through Cologne Bonn Airport (CGN). It is the first time that passenger numbers have exceeded those in 2019 and hence marks a return to pre-pandemic levels. It is the seventh-largest passenger airport in Germany and the third-largest in terms of cargo operations. By traffic units, which combines cargo and passengers, the airport is in fifth position in Germany. As of March 2015, Cologne Bonn Airport had services to 115 passenger destinations in 35 countries. The airport is named after Cologne native Konrad Adenauer, the first post-war Chancellor of West Germany. The facility covers 1,000 hectares (2,500 acres) and contains three runways. The airport is located in the district of Porz and is surrounded by Wahner Heide, a nature reserve. The airport is centrally located in the Cologne Bonn Region 12 km (7.5 mi; 6.5 nmi) southeast of the Cologne city centre and 16 km (9.9 mi; 8.6 nmi) northeast of Bonn. Cologne Bonn Airport is one of the country's few 24-hour airports and serves as a hub for Eurowings, FedEx Express and UPS Airlines as well as a focus city for several leisure and low-cost airlines.

50.866°N, 7.143°E · 92 m s. n. m. (302 ft)
Lengths and surfaces from the public OurAirports register; open runways only.
Tower
Ground
Clearance delivery
ATIS (automatic information)
Approach
Flight information
Automated weather
Reference frequencies for enthusiasts, from OurAirports (community database, public domain), checked on Oct 16, 2026. They may be outdated or incomplete and do not replace the AIP or current charts: not for navigation. In Europe the published frequency may be an 8.33 kHz channel (e.g., 118.505 for 118.500). In MHz.
In 1938, the first airfield was built on site for the German Luftwaffe. After World War II the British military took over and expanded the airport (as RAF Wahn - B-119). A 1,866 m runway was built in this period. The following squadrons used RAF Wahn: 2 Squadron between 28 June 1948 and 15 September 1949 then again between 1 July 1953 and 28 October 1955, 4 Squadron between 13 November 1947 and 1 March 1948 then the squadron alternating with RAF Lubeck until 19 September 1949, 11 Squadron between 15 September 1948 and 17 September 1949, 14 Squadron between 1 April 1946 and 16 September 1949, 17 Squadron between 1 June 1956 and 3 April 1957, 21 Squadron between 3 and 26 September 1946, 68 Squadron between 1 January 1952 and 22 July 1957, 69 Squadron between 31 March 1946 and 7 November 1947, 87 Squadron between 1 January 1952 and 2 July 1957, 98 Squadron between 15 March 1946 and 19 September 1949, 107 Squadron between 3 September 1946 and 15 September 1948, 128 Squadron between 11 and 31 March 1946, 180 Squadron between 8 and 31 March 1946 & 305 Squadron between 11 March and 15 October 1946. In 1950 the airport was opened for civilian air traffic to serve both Cologne and West Germany's then new capital, Bonn, superseding the former Cologne Butzweilerhof Airport. The first scheduled international route was London-Cologne/Bonn-Berlin operated by BEA, inaugurated on 1 January 1951. A second and third runway was opened in 1954 and 1961 subsequently. That same year Lufthansa inaugurated the first scheduled intercontinental service from Cologne/Bonn to New York City. The new passenger terminal, which still exists today as Terminal 1, was inaugurated in 1970. The airport's passenger and freight facilities have been extended substantially during the 1970s. In 1978, the airport handled more than 2 million passengers for the first time. Cologne Bonn Airport was chosen by United Parcel Service (UPS) in 1986 as the location for their European hub. TNT Express followed in 1988. By 1990, the airport handled three million passengers per year. In the mid-1990s the airport started another major expansion program. Several new parking lots, a new control tower and a second terminal were built, and in 2004 a new long-distance railway station connecting the airport with InterCityExpress trains was opened. The airport's design and atmosphere have also influenced popular culture. In 1977, musician Brian Eno was inspired by the architecture and ambiance of Cologne Bonn Airport while waiting for a flight. He later described it as "a very beautiful building [...] The light was beautiful, everything was beautiful, except they were playing awful music." This experience led him to create his groundbreaking 1978 ambient music album "Music for Airports" which was designed to "induce calm and a space to think" in airport environments. Eno sought to create background music that, unlike the "lightweight" music typically played in such spaces, would complement the architectural aesthetics of modern airports like Cologne Bonn. Coinciding with the start of several low-cost airlines in Germany, Cologne/Bonn opened new capacities. This enabled the airport to make competitive offers to the airlines. Consequently, Germanwings and TUIfly started operations from Cologne/Bonn as their hub in the fall of 2002. As a result, the number of passengers in 2003 rose by 43% compared to 2002. These airlines were joined by easyJet in late 2003 and Wizz Air in June 2006. Also, the Canadian Forces began to use the airport as a staging area to move troops and supplies in support of humanitarian missions and possible anti-terrorism roles. In 2006, the Brazilian airline BRA provided a twice a week connection to Rio de Janeiro–Galeão, which was discontinued in April 2007 due to problems with the airline. Also in 2006, a daily transatlantic flight to New Jersey's Newark Liberty International Airport by Continental Airlines was established, operating with a Boeing 757-200.
Other airlines with direct routes
List taken from the airport’s own website (September 2026).
Photo: Raimond Spekking · CC BY-SA 4.0 · view original
Data from OurAirports (public domain) · destinations and airlines from Wikipedia route tables (CC BY-SA, 2026), unless another source is given · profile and photo from Wikidata/Wikimedia Commons (CC0 / CC) · summary and history from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).
To cite this page in academic work, an article or Wikipedia, choose the style and copy the reference. The access date is today.
This page was last updated on October 15, 2026
APA
Vuelopedia. (2026, October 15). Cologne Bonn Airport (CGN). Retrieved October 16, 2026, from https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/CGN
MLA
“Cologne Bonn Airport (CGN).” Vuelopedia, Fundación Poderia, 15 Oct. 2026, vuelopedia.org/en/airport/CGN. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.
Chicago
Vuelopedia. “Cologne Bonn Airport (CGN).” Fundación Poderia. Last modified October 15, 2026. https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/CGN.
Harvard
Vuelopedia (2026) Cologne Bonn Airport (CGN). Available at: https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/CGN (Accessed: 16 October 2026).
BibTeX
@misc{vuelopedia_en_airport_cgn,
author = {{Vuelopedia}},
title = {{Cologne Bonn Airport (CGN)}},
publisher = {Fundación Poderia},
year = {2026},
date = {2026-10-15},
url = {https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/CGN},
howpublished = {\url{https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/CGN}},
urldate = {2026-10-16},
note = {Accessed 2026-10-16}
}Wikipedia
{{cite web |url=https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/CGN |title=Cologne Bonn Airport (CGN) |website=Vuelopedia |publisher=Fundación Poderia |date=2026-10-15 |access-date=2026-10-16 |language=en}}