Hannover Airport opened in Langenhagen in 1952, replacing an airfield situated within the 1952 city limits of Hanover. In 1973 two modern passenger terminals opened as terminals A and B that, as of 2023, are still in service. Known for their compact design, Sheremetyevo International Airport in Moscow was modelled after them. In the 1990s, trials of intercontinental services to the United States and Canada were stopped due to low passenger numbers. Terminal C, the largest of the three passenger terminals, was opened in 1998 to handle more passengers, adding 8 more boarding gates and 3 bus departure gates. Up to 33 aircraft can be handled simultaneously, of which 20 can use aircraft stands equipped with a jet bridge. All three terminals are capable of handling a Boeing 747. From 1957 to 1990, the airport hosted the Internationale Luft- und Raumfahrtausstellung, Germany's largest air show. After a fatal accident in 1988, when a Royal Air Force Chinook helicopter hit a jet bridge with its rotor, and after German Reunification two years later, the air show moved to Berlin in 1992. An S-Bahn connection was established between the airport and Hamelin via Hanover central station in 2000. This replaced the airport's shuttle bus service. While the bus service ran more frequently than the S-Bahn (it ran every 20 minutes), it also took longer to travel between the airport and central station. The train service was extended to Paderborn in 2003. Hannover Airport has struggled to generate increased demand since the late 2000s, possibly due to not being able to attract Europe's low-cost carriers to the airport. In addition, new routes from established legacy carriers with their hubs were not able to sustain themselves, as seen with Aer Lingus, airBaltic, Finnair, Brussels Airlines, Iberia, LOT Polish Airlines, and TAP Air Portugal. Passenger traffic declined from 5.64 million in 2008 to 4.97 million in 2009, recovered to 6.30 million in 2019, fell to 1.45 million in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, and reached 5.34 million in 2025. Hannover Airport is one of the very few airports in Germany that are open 24 hours a day, but only a few passenger and cargo flights operate at Hannover between 11 pm and 4 am. In September 2006 the general aviation terminal, located near the middle runway, was renamed to Karl Jatho Terminal in honour of Hanoverian aviation pioneer Karl Jatho.