Dresden celebrates 90 years of the airport: a gateway to the world full of history!

Dresden celebrates 90 years of the airport: a gateway to the world full of history!

On July 11, 2025, Dresden Airport celebrated a very special anniversary: ​​it was 90 years ago that the first scheduled flight took off. The airport was opened in 1935 in the Klotzsche district and has undergone impressive development over the years. From a military and commercial airport to an important hub for the aviation industry in Central Germany - the history of the airport is characterized by technical innovations, political upheavals and economic changes, such as Aviation.Direct reported.

The anniversary was celebrated with a colorful program that included, among other things, a special exhibition in the terminal and the new airport history tours. These tours, which will take place on the last Sunday of each month starting in August, cost from 18 euros per person. A highlight: the last remaining fuselage of the first German jet-powered airliner “152”. The first flight movements took place in Dresden in the 1920s, but civil air traffic collapsed during the Second World War. The activities only picked up again in the 1950s, when the GDR-Lufthansa was founded, report the experts aviationmagazin.de.

Anniversary program and future events

Part of the anniversary program is planned readings and lectures, including a lecture by Dr. Ulrich Unger about the first German female pilot Melli Beese. In addition to the historical insights, many companies have settled near the airport in recent years, including big names in the semiconductor industry such as GlobalFoundries and Infineon. This development is also reflected in the passenger numbers: Dresden Airport counted a total of more than 56 million passengers from its opening to June 2025 and more than 1.1 million flight movements since 1990.

The record numbers are no coincidence; The attractiveness of the airport is also supported by strategic connections to international hubs such as Frankfurt, Munich and Zurich. According to statistics, the number of passengers at German airports has risen sharply since 2022. What is particularly noteworthy is that Dresden Airport recorded over 882,000 passengers in 2024. Despite the challenges during the pandemic, the number of passengers has remained stable, which has developed positively in recent years, according to figures from Statista.

Future outlook

With the modernization of the airport in 2006 in order to be able to handle larger types of aircraft, Mitteldeutsche Flughafen AG, which also owns Leipzig/Halle Airport, took a decisive step towards a promising future. By the way, Leipzig/Halle is the second largest cargo airport in Germany and can look forward to over 1.4 million tons of air freight in 2024.

Dresden Airport will continue to strive for an important role as a mobility partner and innovation location and will continually expand its offering. This shows that the airport has not only written brilliant chapters in history, but is also an important player in the future of aviation.