Groningen Airport Eelde is situated in the Netherlands, Southeast of Groningen near the village Eelde in the municipal Tynaarlo. The airport is owned and operated by the limited liability company "Groningen Airport Eelde NV". The airport has two concrete runways: 05-23 with a length of 1800 meters and 01-19 with a length of 1500 meters. The co-ordinates of the airport are N 53° 07' 10.99", E 0.06° 34' 46.00". The tower frequencies of Groningen Airport Eelde are 118,7 MHz and 119.7Mhz (approach).

The history of Groningen Airport Eelde goes back to 1930 when the council of the municipal Eelde decided to create an airfield of 11¼ hectare at the Hakenkampsveld. On May 23, 1931 the airfield was officially opened. To increase the size and facilities of the airfield in 1933 in the nearby City of Groningen the foundation of the limited liability company "N.V. Luchtvaartterrein voor Noord-Nederland" was established in the nearby City of Groningen. This resulted in the grow of the airfield to 40 hectare. During World War II the airfield was used by the Luftwaffe and renamed to Fliegerhorst Eelde. A number of new buildings appeared and the size of the airfield increased. Fliegerhorst Eelde was however hardly used as an airbase. In 1946 the damaged airfield returned under control of the "NV Luchtvaartterrein voor Noord-Nederland". On October 3, 1951 the Dutch government decided that the RLS has to move out of  Gilze-Rijen to Eelde and the airfield was appointed as the alternate airport for Amsterdam-Schiphol. The infrastructure of the airfield got radical improved: instead of the grass runway Eelde got two concrete runways of 1500 meters and 1800 meters; a concrete tarmac and new buildings including a new tower. The Government became shareholder in the new "NV Luchthaven Eelde". On August 16, 1954 the RLS moved to Eelde, and their new location and the improved airport was opened officially on May 15, 1957. In 1988 the Ltd. is renamed in "Groningen Airport Eelde NV". The runway length of 1800 meters is a restriction in the development of the airport. In 1968 there were ideas to increase the runway to 3000 meters. The KLM offered to finance a substantial part of the investment. This idea was never given concrete form to due to the condition of the KLM that they would use Eelde as a  training location for their airlines. Since the runway length has been discussed over and over. Finally on January 10, 1986 the decision was made to go for a runway of 2500 meters. The procedures to increase the runway to the length of 2500 meters were started. Due to the resistance of  some neighbours the procedures are still running. As soon as a positive decision over the runway extension has been taken, the air cargo carrier RDR Cargo will move a part of her activities to Groningen Airport Eelde.

bmi regional operates a Monday to Friday service Aberdeen-Groningen-Aberdeen, using an Embraer 135 or 145 Jet. Tickets for this service can be ordered via their website. Eastern Airways operates on Monday and Friday a private service Norwich-Groningen flown with the Jetstream 41. Until 1 July 2008, VLM Airlines operated a service from Groningen to Amsterdam and London City, using a Fokker 50.

The holiday destinations out of Groningen Airport Eelde are: Antalya; Bodrum; Corfu; Dalaman; Faro; Heraklion; Kos; Las Palmas; Malaga; Palma de Mallorca; Rhodos and Tenerife. The holiday-flights in the summer of 2008 are operated by Transavia (737-800), Corendon Air (737-400) and Sky Airlines (737-400). The holiday destinations in the winter 2007/2008 are Las Palmas and Tenerife, operated by Transavia (737-800).

From the terrace of the restaurant at the airport there is a good sight on the tarmac and the aeroplanes. A number of companies are established at the Groningen Airport Eelde. Over 40 aircraft are based.

City Star Airlines was founded in 2005 as a subsidiary of Atlandsflug ehf and based at Aberdeen Airport, Scotland. City Star Airlines operated 3 Dornier 328-110 airliners. From 18 September 2006 until the summer of 2007, City Star Airlines flew a Monday, Wednesday and Friday service Stavanger-Groningen vv. The TF-CSB was delivered in September 2005. After the collapse of City Star Airlines on 30 January 2008, Dornier TF-CSB was inpounded at Aberdeen. The registration TF-CSB was cancelled in April 2008. City Star Airlines used IATA code: X9, ICAO code: ISL and callsign: ISLANDIA. Dornier 328 TF-CSB was photographed by Jack Poelstra on 22 September 2006.

bmi regional operates a Monday to Friday service Aberdeen-Groningen vv, using an Embraer ERJ-135 or a ERJ-145 Jet. Tickets for this service can be ordered via their website. The ERJ-135 is a 37-seat development of the ERJ-145 and was flown first on July 4, 1980. One of the EMBRAER Regional Jet aircraft used by bmi regional on the service is the 2001 built ERJ-135ER G-RJXJ, which was photographed on June 10, 2004 by Jack Poelstra. The G-RJXJ (ex. PT-SVS) was registered in the UK with British Midland Airways Ltd. on July 7, 2001. This ERJ-135ER Regional Jet is operated since with bmi regional.

Eastern Airways operates on Monday and Friday a private service Norwich-Groningen vv flown with the Jetstream 41. Their Jetstream 4102 G-MAJV was photographed by Jack Poelstra on June 9th 2006. The G-MAJV was registered on April 10th 2006 with Air Kilroe Ltd., trading as Eastern Airways. This 29-seat Jetstream J41 is one of four leased from BAE Systems Regional Aircraft by the fast growing Eastern Airways. Including these four aircraft, Eastern operates 21 Jetstream 41 aircraft, making Eastern Airways the world’s largest fleet operator of the type. In addition, the airline operates four 18-seat Jetstream 32s.

The Cirrus Design SR20 and SR22 aeroplanes for Europe and Africa are delivered out of Duluth, Minnesota in the USA via Eelde. General Enterprises b.v. at Eelde airfield is the agent for Europe and Africa. On June 28th 2004 the TFHS - Trafikflyg Högskollan / Lund University School of Aviation (LUSA) signed an order for delivery of 5 Cirrus SR20g2 aircraft as a replacement for their ageing Scottish Aviation Bulldogs in use for their basic aviation training. On February 28th 2005 the Cirrus SR20s were photographed by Jack Poelstra prior delivery to Sweden.

Israel IAI-1126 Galaxy / Gulfstream G200 YR-TYG of TiriacAir came in at Groningen Airport on February 15th 2006. TiriacAIR was founded in 1998 as part of Tiriac Holdings, named after its owner Ion Tiriac. Its operation base is Otopeni International Airport near Bucharest in Romania. The YR-TIG was built in 1999 as an Israel IAI-1126 Galaxy. It started its services with Ion Tiriac Air as N845GA. After this registration was cancelled on February 2nd 2006 the aircraft was registered in Romania as YR-TIG. The IAI-1126 Galaxy was originally marketed and supported by Galaxy Aerospace Inc. After Galaxy Aerospace was acquired by Gulfstream in 2001, the IAI-1126 Galaxy was renamed Gulfstream G200. Jack Poelstra photographed the YR-TIG.

The bulk of the holiday charters out of Groningen is flown by Transavia Airlines. In the summer of 2007 Transavia flies to Las Palmas; Faro; Mallorca; Tenerife; Heraklion; Corfu; Kos; Rhodos; Antalya and Dalaman. It is possible to book the flight as a regular service on a number of these destinations. Transavia operates the Boeing 737-700 and 737-800. During the summer 2007, three Transavia Boeing 737's wear logo jet colours for the Dutch supermarket Jumbo. On 6 June 2007, Jack Poelstra photographed the PH-HZX in the 'Jumbo supermakten' colours.

On April 27th 2006 Flying Bulls came in at Groningen Airport Eelde with their ancient Douglas DC-6B N996DM. This aircraft has a long history. It was delivered first on October 24th 1958 as YU-AFA to JAT - Jugoslavenski Aero Transport. In 1961 the aircraft was transferred to the Yugoslav Air Force (Jugoslovensko Ratno Vazduhoplovstvo) as 7451. After being used by the Zambian Air Force it stood idle for over 15 years on Lusaka airport until it returned in service with NCA - Namibia Commercial Aviation in Namibia. Nowadays the Douglas DC-6B is operated by the Flying Bulls and stationed at Salzburg in Austria.

LZ-CBE Antonov An-12B c/n 6343708

Heli Air Services (HLR) is based at Sofia Airport, Bulgaria. Heli Air started in 1990 as a helicopter operator. In 2006 Heli Air is operating scheduled and non-scheduled passenger and cargo air transport, aerial works, offshore operations, air ambulance and fire fighting. Early 2006 Heli Air Services operated a fleet of a single Mil Mi-8 MTV and seven Mil Mi-8 helicopters, six L-410 and four AN-12 airliners. The AN-12 cargo aircraft operated by Heli Air can carry up to 20 tones at a distance of 1,300 km. Their Antonov An-12B LZ-CBE came in at Groningen Airport Eelde on February 24th 2006. Jack Poelstra photographed the aircraft on February 26th when it departed to Dakar loaded with 12 tones cargo.

Sky Taxi was established in 2000 and operates two aircraft, a SAAB 340A QC and a PZL M20 Mewa, out of Wroclaw in Poland. Sky Taxi operates charter and air taxi flights. On 31 january 2007, their all-white SAAB 340A QC SP-MRB (s/n 100) came in at Groningen Airport Eelde on a flight to Roskilde in Denmark. On 8 August 1987, the SAAB 340A c/n 100 was flown first as SE-F01. Before the aircraft was delivered as a SAAB 340A QC to Sky Taxi in November 2005, it was operated as SE-ISK, G-GNTD and OE-GIF. In December 2005, the airliner entered service with Sky Taxi as SP-MRB.

In November 2000, the Dutch Flight Academy was qualified by the Nederlandse Luchtvaart Autoriteit (NLA) as Flying Training Organisation (FTO) according to the JAR-FCL norms. DFA is based at Groningen Airport Eelde in the Netherlands and operates three SOCATA-GA TB-10 Tobago and one Piper Turbo Arrow single-engine aircraft and two twin-engine Diamond DA-42 Twin Star aircraft. Next to these they operate a high-tech AlSim flight simulator and an ALSIM DA-42 Twin Star simulator. On 29 April 2001, the in 1993 built SOCATA TB-10 s/n 1586 (ex G-BZRK, VH-YHD) was photographed on the tarmac.

All photos on this site are copyrighted by international copyright laws, and remain the property of the relevant photographer. Prior permission should always be sought directly from the photographer for any other means than private viewing. If no photographer is mentioned the photos on these pages are made by Jack Wolbrink.

Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to insure the correctness of data. However, I disclaim any responsibility in case of any errors or omissions. I am not responsible for the content of the linked websites.