Essen

Essen/Mülheim Airport (IATA: ESS), 5 km (3 mi) south-east of Mülheim an der Ruhr and 8 km (5 mi) south-west of Essen, is a German airport maintained by Essen together with the neighbouring city of Mülheim an der Ruhr and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

While the first flights had already arrived in 1919, it was officially opened on August 25, 1925. Significantly expanded in 1935, Essen/Mülheim became the central airport of the Ruhr area until the end of the Second World War, providing an asphalted runway of 1,553 m (5,095 ft), another unsurfaced runway for gliding and destinations to most major European cities. It was heavily damaged during the war, yet partly reconstructed and used by the Allies as a repairing airport since the view is less often obscured there than at Düsseldorf Airport.

The latter then developed into the large civil airport that it is now, while Essen/Mülheim nowadays mainly serves occasional air traffic (some 33,000 passengers each year), the base of a fleet of airships and Germany's oldest public flight training company.

Residents of the region around Essen typically use Düsseldorf Airport (~ 20 driving minutes) and occasionally Dortmund Airport for both domestic and international flights.

Essen/Mülheim’s general operating hours are from 06:00 to 22:00 seven days a week.

This airport is served primarily by business charter flights.

The above mentioned information is taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essen.