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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 23 May 1931, the airfield was officially opened. To increase the size and facilities of the airfield in 1933, 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 3 October 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 16 August 1954, the RLS moved to Eelde, and their new location and the improved airport were opened officially on 15 May 1957. In 1988, the Ltd. was 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 10 January 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. Due to the continuing delay in the decision on the runway extension, the air cargo carrier RDR Cargo has abandoned its plans to build a hangar at the airport and to move a part of her activities to Groningen Airport Eelde.

bmi regional operates a Monday to Friday service Aberdeen-Groningen-Aberdeen, using an Jetstream 41 or an Embraer 135 Jet. Tickets for this service can be ordered via their website. Transavia operates on Saturday and Sunday in the winter a regular service to Innsbruck and Salzburg flown with the Boeing 737-700. On 28 April 2012, Vueling will start a new service Groningen-Barcelona flown with an Airbus A320 on Tuesday and Saturday. A new service Groningen-London is due for 2012. If everything goes as planned, this new regular service will be flown twice daily to Southend Airport near London by GLM (Groninger Luchtvaart Maatschappij), using an aircraft like the SAAB 340.

The holiday destinations out of Groningen Airport Eelde in 2012 are: Antalya; Corfu; Dalaman; Faro; Heraklion; Kos; Las Palmas; Malaga; Palma de Mallorca; Rhodos and Tenerife. The holiday-flights in the summer of 2012 are operated by Transavia (Boeing 737-800); Sky Airlines (Airbus 321-231) and Corendon Airlines (Boeing 737). The holiday destinations in the winter 2011/2012 are Las Palmas and Tenerife, operated by Transavia (Boeing 737-800).

From the terrace of the restaurant at the airport is a good sight on the tarmac and the aeroplanes. A number of companies is established at the Groningen Airport Eelde. Over 50 aircraft are based.

On 30 June 2000, the Netherlands ordered 20 NH90 NFH's to replace the Lynx helicopters. Changed needs led to a revised requirement and the order was changed to 12 fully-equipped NH90 NFHs and eight NH90 TNFHs (Transport NATO Frigate Helicopter). On 23 December 2009, the first NH90-NFH (NATO Frigate Helicopter) was handover to the Netherlands military. The Royal Netherlands Air Force' NH90-NFH-COM N-110 is based at Naval Air Base De Kooy and joined 7 Squadron, part of the Defence Helicopter Command (DHC). 7 Squadron is tasked with training and SAR. RNLAF' NHIndustries NH90-NFH-MOC N-110 was seen by Jack Poelstra when the helicopter visited Groningen Airport Eelde during an en-routing training on 11 June 2010.

bmi regional operates a Monday to Friday service Aberdeen-Groningen vv, using an BAe Jetstream 41 or an Embraer ERJ-135 Jet. Tickets for this service can be ordered via their website. The Embraer ERJ-135 is a 37-seat development of the ERJ-145 and was flown first on 4 July 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 by Jack Poelstra on 10 June 2004. The G-RJXJ (ex. PT-SVS) was registered in the UK with British Midland Airways Ltd. on 7 July 2001. The 2001-built ERJ-135ER Regional Jet is operated since with bmi regional.

On 23 September 2010, the Belgian Council of Ministers has agreed the purchase of a secondhand MDHI MD-902 helicopter for the Dienst Luchtsteun Federale Politie / Service D'appui Aérien Police Fédérale. As soon as this MD-902 Explorer has entered service the three existing MDHI MD-900 helicopters in service with the Police will be modified into MDHI MD-902 helicopters. In September 2010, the Belgian Governmen bought the 2008-built MDHI MD-902 Explorer c/n 900-00132 OY-HMS from CASA Air A/S, Horsens, Denmark, for use with the Federale Politie / Police Fédérale as G-16. On 11 October 2010, the G-16 was seen at Groningen Airport on delivery from Odense to Brussels-Melsbroek.

Skyline Aviation B.V. is an aviation company and fixed base operator (FBO) that works for Army, Airforce and Marines. Skyline Aviation was established in 1990 and its head office is at Den Helder Airport in the Netherlands. Besides Target Tow missions for Navy, Skyline performs EW training missions for the Airforce and uses the L-39 Albatros for training of Forward Air Controllers (FAC) for the Army and Marines. Skyline Aviation operates a missionized Learjet 36A, a Bechcraft 200 King Air and several L-39 Albatros military jet aircraft out of Den Helder-De Kooy and Groningen Airport Eelde. The Learjet and the Aero L-39V are used for Target Towing. Gates LearJet 36A N116MA has an auxilary fuel tank for long endurance missions and is one of the Skyline Aviation' aircraft based at Groningen.

Israel IAI-1126 Galaxy / Gulfstream G200 YR-TYG of TiriacAir came in at Groningen Airport on 15 February 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. On 16 January 2009, the Tiriac Israel IAI-1126 Galaxy YR-TIG was substantial damaged when the aircraft skidded of the runway after it landed at Oradea Airport. 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.

The bulk of the holiday charters out of Groningen is flown by Transavia Airlines. In the summer of 2011 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. Boeing 737-8K2 s/n 28248 l/n 1126 flew first on 17 April 2002 and is owned by International Lease Finance Corporation. The Boeing was registered PH-HZX with Transavia Airlines CV as holder on 26 April 2002. Since this the Boeing was sub-leased by Transavia twice to Sun Country Airlines.

Sky Airlines operates the Boeing 737-400, Airbus A.321-231 and Airbus A.320-211 on the holiday charters Groniongen-Antalya. The Turkish charter airliner Sky Airlines (SHY) was established in 2000 as an affiliate of the KayiGroup, located in Antalya. In 2009, Sky Airlines operates six Boeing 737-400, one Boeing 737-800, two Airbus A.320-211 and two Airbus A.321-231 airliners. Airbus A.320-211 c/n 148 was test flown as F-WWDO on 30 November 1990. On 14 February 1991, the aircraft was delivered as JA8383 to All Nippon Airways in Japan. In March 2008, the aircraft was withdrawn from use with ANA and the Airbus was registered N148LC in the US. After the Airbus was delivered to Sky Airlines registration N148LC was cancelled. The Airbus A.320-211 entered service with Sky as TC-SKK.

G-ISST Eurocopter EC155 B1 c/n 6778  -  Bristow Helicopters

After the discovery of the natural gas below Slochteren the oil-companies started their hunt for natural gas below the Northsea. In the early sixties World Wide Helicopters and Bristow Helicopters settled down at Eelde. Bristow operated two float equipped Westland WS.55 Whirlwinds 3 and one Westland WS.51 Widgeon out of Eelde. The Bristow' helicopters were maintained in the RLS hangars. Nowadays, Bristow Helicopters uses Den Helder-De Kooy for the offshore flights to the gas -and oil fields in the Dutch sector of the North Sea. Due to the weather conditions, their Eurocopter EC155 B1 Dauphin 2 G-ISST was diverted to Groningen Airport Eelde on 10 January 2011. The 2007-built Eurocopter EC155 B1 2 c/n 6778 is registered G-ISST in the UK with Bristow Helicopters Ltd., Aberdeen.

On 23 April 2009, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden visited the province of Groningen. The Swedish royals departed at the end of their visit to the Netherlands from Groningen Airport Eelde in the Swedish Air Force Gulstream GIV-SP 102004 '024'. The Swedish Air Force operates this GIV-SP, designated as Tp-102C, in the VIP transport rule for the Swedish Royal Family and the government. The 1996-built Gulfstream Aerospace GIV-SP c/n 1274 was registered LV-WOM with Sogma SA in Argentina in March 1996. The aircraft entered services with the Swedish Air Force in October 2000. Gulfstream G-IVSP 102004 is operated by Svenska Flygvapnet Transportflygenhet F-17M / Swedish Air Force Transport unit F-17M at Stockholm-Bromma.

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 four SOCATA-GA TB-10 Tobago, two Piper Warrior and one Piper Turbo Arrow single-engine aircraft and three twin-engine Diamond DA-42 Twin Star aircraft. Due to the noise-regulations, DFA has stationed some aircraft at Leer-Papenburg in Germany. Next to the aircrafts, DFA operates a high-tech AlSim flight simulator; an ALSIM DA-42 Twin Star simulator and a SIM Industries FTD 2A MMC simulator, an exact copy of a Boeing 737-800NG cockpit. The 1993-built SOCATA TB-10 (ex G-BZRK, VH-YHD) was seen at 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.

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