Erfurt-Weimar Airport can look back to the birth of scheduled aviation. During the Weimar National Assembly on 19 February 1919, the first scheduled flights were launched, with an inaugural journey from Weimar to Berlin.
Today, this international airport is a state-of-the-art facility, with a 2,600m runway, ILS Cat IIIb. It has direct access to the A4 and A71 motorways, which connect central Germany with northern Bavaria, Hessia and Saxony. Erfurt's main railway station, an ICE facility served by Deutsche Bahn, is only 15 minutes by tram, and downtown can be reached within 10-15 minutes by tram or taxi. Weimar and Oberhof are accessible within 30 minutes - everywhere else in Thuringia is within easy reach. Thanks to this easy access - the distance from car or tram to the aircraft is less than 200m - the airport's catchment area expands as far as Frankfurt and Würzburg.
Erfurt-Weimar Airport has a capacity for 1.6 million passengers, with possibilities for expansion. The airport offers different destinations for travellers throughout the year. Notable visitors included US President Barack Obama and Pope Benedict XVI.
Located centrally in Germany and Europe, and with extended and dense forest areas, Thuringia is known as the 'green heart of Germany'. The area has an extensive history, and has been home to prominent people, including Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Friedrich Schiller, Martin Luther, Carl Zeiss and Walter Gropius. Today, Thuringia is a vibrant centre of commerce, with market leaders in the automobile supply, optical and solar industries.
As Thuringia's capital, Erfurt has central Europe's largest and most beautiful medieval city centres, and its Christmas markets are a huge draw for visitors.
