Copenhagen Airport

Copenhagen Airport, Kastrup Københavns Lufthavn, Kastrup
IATA: CPH – ICAO: EKCH
Summary
Airport type		Public
Owner		Københavns Lufthavne
Serves		Copenhagen, Denmark
Location		Kastrup, Tårnby
Hub for		Scandinavian Airlines Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia Norwegian Air Shuttle Danish Air Transport SAS Cargo
Elevation AMSL		5 m / 17 ft
Coordinates		55°37′05″N 012°39′22″E
Website		cph.dk
Map
CPH Location within Denmark
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
	m	ft
04L/22R	3,600	11,811	Asphalt
04R/22L	3,300	10,827	Asphalt
12/30	2,800	9,186	Asphalt/Concrete
Statistics (2013)
Passengers			24,067,030
Domestic			1,902,652
International			22,164,378
Aircraft movements			244,942
Source: AIP

Copenhagen Airport, Kastrup (Danish: Københavns Lufthavn, Kastrup) or Copenhagen Airport (Danish: Københavns Lufthavn; IATA: CPH, ICAO: EKCH) is the main international airport serving Copenhagen, Denmark, the entire Zealand, the Øresund Region, and a large part of southern Sweden (not only Scania). It is the largest airport in the Nordic countries with 24.1 million passengers per year in 2013 and one of the oldest international airports in Europe.

The airport is located on the island of Amager, just 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) south of Copenhagen city centre, and 24 kilometres (15 mi) west of Malmö city centre on the other side of the Øresund Bridge. The airport lies mainly in the municipality of Tårnby, with a small portion in neighbouring Dragør.

The airport is the main hub out of three used by Scandinavian Airlines and is also an operating base for Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia and Norwegian Air Shuttle. Copenhagen Airport handles 60 scheduled airlines and serves more than 62,000 passengers per day; 23.3 million passengers passed through the facility in 2012, making it the busiest airport in the Nordic countries, with a maximum capacity of 83 loadings/hour and with room for 108 aeroplanes. Unlike other Scandinavian airports, a considerable share of the airport's passengers are international. The domestic part of the annual passengers is lower than 10%. The airport is owned by Københavns Lufthavne, which also operates Roskilde Airport. The airport employs 1700 staff (excluding shops, restaurants etc.).

Copenhagen Airport was originally called Kastrup Airport, since it is located in the small town of Kastrup, now a part of the Tårnby municipality. The formal name of the airport is still Copenhagen Airport, Kastrup, to distinguish it from Roskilde Airport, which was previously called Copenhagen Airport, Roskilde.

History

Aerial view of Copenhagen Airport

Aerial view of the passenger terminals at Copenhagen Airport

Outside view of Terminal 2

• 1925 (1925) – CPH opens for service on 20 April. One of the first private airports in the world, it opens with a grass runway.
• 1932 (1932) – 6000 take-offs and landings in the year.
• 1936 (1936) – 1939 New terminal, considered one of the finest examples of Nordic functionalism, is built (Architect: Vilhelm Lauritzen).
• 1941 (1941) – First hard-surface runway is built.
• 1946 (1946) – SAS is founded, an important event for Copenhagen Airport, as Copenhagen was to be the main hub for the airline. Traffic increases rapidly in the first years SAS operates. Also, Copenhagen Airport becomes Europe's third-largest.
• 1947 (1947) – On 26 January, a KLM DC-3 crashes at the airport after stopping en route to Stockholm. 22 people die, including the Swedish prince Gustav Adolf and the American opera singer Grace Moore.
• 1948 (1948) – 150 take-offs and landings per day, and 3000 passengers are handled per day.
• 1950 (1950) – 378,000 passengers are handled.
• 1954 (1954) – 11,000 tonnes of freight handled per year. SAS begins the world's first trans-polar route, flying initially to Los Angeles. The route proves to be a publicity coup, and for some years Copenhagen becomes a popular transit point for Hollywood stars and producers flying to Europe.
• 1956 (1956) – 1 million passengers handled per year. CPH wins the award for the world's best airport.
• 1960s – With the advent of jet airliners, debate begins about a major expansion of the airport. Jets need longer runways than had previously been used, and plans are drawn up to expand the airport either into existing communities in Kastrup or onto Saltholm, a small island. Local protests ensue and expansion is stalled for some time.
• 1960 (1960) – On 30 April, Terminal 2, also designed by Lauritzen, opens. Also, a new control tower opens and the airport handles 2 million passengers per year.
• 1970s (1970s) – The airport suffers from acute space shortages, especially with the advent of large jets such as 747s. After initially deciding to expand to Saltholm, the project is eventually blocked by Denmark's parliament.
• 1973 (1973) – 8 million passengers handled per year. The third (long) runway opens and the dual runway system (04L/22R-04R/22L) opens, strongly expanding the capacity of possible numbers of starts and landings.
• 1982 (1982) – The Cargo terminal opens.
• 1986 (1986) – A parking garage with 2400 spaces opens.
• 1991 (1991) – The airport is partially privatised.
• 1998 (1998) – Terminal 3 opens, and the airport handles 17 million (international) passengers per year.
• 1999 (1999) – Baggage handling system is modernised, and the Vilhelm Lauritzen terminal is moved 3.8 km down the runway to make room for new terminals, a hotel, and a train station for regional trains opens..
• 2000 (2000) – The road and railway bridge to Malmö is completed, facilitating access for passengers arriving from Sweden. Trains to/from Sweden stop right beneath Terminal 3. The airport handles 18.4 million passengers per year..
• 2001 (2001) – A five-star Hilton hotel with 382 beds opens at the airport. 267,000 take-offs and landings.
• 2005 (2005) – Macquaire Airport buys 52% of stocks.
• 2006 (2006) – Number of passengers exceeds 20 million for the first time (20.9 million).
• 2007 (2007) – A metro station opens, connecting the airport to the Copenhagen Metro.
• 2008 (2008) – A new control tower is opened by Naviair as part of a major renovation of the ATC system. Airport officials announce plan to build a new low-cost terminal at the facility, which is expected to be completed by 2010.
• 2009 (2009) – Macquaire Airport is spun off as MAp Airports.
• 2010 (2010) – The new low cost terminal CPH Go opens 31 October.
• 2011 (2011) – 22.725.517 passengers are handled. A record high.
• 2011 (2011) – MAp Airports sold its stake in the airport to Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, based in Toronto, Canada.
• 2012 (2012) – 23,336,187 passengers are handled. A record high.
• 2013 (2013) – Voted best airport in the world in terms of route network development at the World Route conference in Las Vegas.
• 2013 (2013) – 24,067,030 passengers are handled. A record high.
• 2014 (2014) – Announced plans to increase capacity to 40 million passengers per year

Facilities

Terminals

Check-in desks at Terminal 2

Copenhagen Airport has two terminals. Terminal 1 is currently used for all domestic flights. Terminals 2 and 3 handle international flights (both Schengen and non-Schengen) and share a common airside passenger concourse as well as the arrivals section which houses customs and baggage claim and is physically located in Terminal 3. The newest section, CPH Go, dedicated to low-cost carriers opened in October 2010. So far, EasyJet and Transavia.com are the only airlines operating from this terminal, which is accessed from terminal 3. As of 2015 Terminal 1 will shut down, letting Terminals 2 and 3 handle all flights. An all new Terminal 4 has been discussed, but replaced by plans to expand the current facilities in appropriate increments. Copenhagen airport offer passengers transfer possibilities

Runways

Despite the short distance to the city centre, approaches to, and departures from, the airport do not disturb the inhabitants of the city, due to the heading of the dual parallel runway system (04R/22L & 04L/22R). Those runways are located very close to the Øresund strait, in both directions. The supplementary runway (30/12) causes no noise problems for landings at runway 30 or take-offs from runway 12. In the opposite direction, the 30/12 runway has noise restrictions. Other advantages are the low altitude of the airport and absence of hills and high buildings below the approach directions. In case of fog, the runway 22L is equipped with an ILS of category III C system, which allows modern aircraft to land in zero sight.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Airlines	Destinations	Terminal
Adria Airways	Ljubljana	3
Aegean Airlines	Athens Seasonal: Heraklion (begins 26 June 2015)	2
Aer Lingus	Dublin	2
Aeroflot	Moscow-Sheremetyevo	2
airBaltic	Riga	2
Air Berlin	Berlin-Tegel, Düsseldorf	2
Air Canada	Toronto-Pearson	3
Air Europa	Madrid	2
Air France	Paris-Charles de Gaulle	2
Air Greenland	Kangerlussuaq Seasonal: Iqaluit (begins 25 December 2014)	2
Air Greenland operated by Jet Time	Kangerlussuaq Seasonal: Narsarsuaq	2
Air Serbia	Belgrade	3
Alitalia	Rome-Fiumicino Seasonal: Milan-Linate	2
Alsie Express	Sønderborg	1
Atlantic Airways	Vágar	2
Austrian Airlines operated by Tyrolean Airways	Vienna Seasonal: Innsbruck	2
B&H Airlines	Sarajevo-International	2
British Airways	London-Heathrow	2
Brussels Airlines	Brussels	2
Croatia Airlines	Zagreb	2
Corendon Airlines	Marrakech Seasonal: Ercan	2
Czech Airlines	Prague	2
Danish Air Transport	Bornholm, Karup (begins 29 March 2015)	1
Delta Air Lines	Seasonal: New York-JFK	2
easyJet	Berlin-Schönefeld, Bristol, Edinburgh, Hamburg, London-Gatwick, London-Luton, London-Stansted, Manchester, Milan-Malpensa, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Rome-Fiumicino	CPH Go
easyJet Switzerland	Basel/Mulhouse, Geneva	CPH Go
EgyptAir	Cairo	3
Emirates	Dubai-International	2
Es-Air operated by Jet Time	Esbjerg (begins 1 February 2015)	1
Estonian Air	Tallinn	3
Etihad Regional operated by Darwin Airline	Dresden (begins 29 March 2015)	TBA
Finnair	Helsinki	2
Iberia Express	Madrid	2
Icelandair	Reykjavík-Keflavík	3
Iraqi Airways	Baghdad, Erbil, Najaf	2
Jet Time	Charter: Aqaba, Antalya, Bodrum, Bourgas, Chambéry, Chania, Corfu, Dalaman, Dubrovnik, Fuerteventura, Gazipasa, Gran Canaria, Grenoble, Heraklion, Hurghada, Innsbruck, Izmir, Kangerlussuaq, Kefalonia, Kos, Larnaca, Malaga, Malta, Marsa Alam, Palma de Mallorca, Ponta Delgada, Rhodes, Salzburg, Samos, Sharm el-Sheikh, Skiathos, Tenerife-South	2
KLM	Amsterdam	2
KLM operated by KLM Cityhopper	Amsterdam	2
LOT Polish Airlines	Warsaw-Chopin	3
Lufthansa	Frankfurt, Munich	3
Lufthansa Regional operated by Lufthansa CityLine	Munich	3
Luxair	Luxembourg	2
Middle East Airlines	Seasonal: Beirut	2
Montenegro Airlines	Seasonal: Podgorica	2
Norwegian Air Shuttle	Aalborg, Karup (ends 27 March 2015)	1
Norwegian Air Shuttle	Alicante, Amsterdam, Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi, Barcelona, Bergen, Berlin-Schönefeld, Budapest, Dubai-International, Dublin, Edinburgh, Faro, Fort Lauderdale, Funchal, Gran Canaria, Helsinki, Kraków, Lisbon, London-Gatwick, Los Angeles, Madrid, Málaga, Marrakech, Milan-Malpensa, New York-JFK, Nice, Orlando (begins 30 March 2015), Oslo-Gardermoen, Paris-Orly, Prague, Riga, Rome-Fiumicino, Stockholm-Arlanda, Tel Aviv-Ben Gurion, Trondheim Seasonal: Agadir, Athens, Belgrade, Bratislava, Burgas, Catania, Chania, Corfu, Dubrovnik, Grenoble, Heraklion, Ibiza, Kos, Larnaca, Malta, Marseille, Montpellier, Olbia, Palma de Mallorca, Pisa, Rhodes, Salzburg, Sarajevo, Split, Tenerife-South, Venice-Marco Polo, Zagreb	2
Pakistan International Airlines	Islamabad, Lahore	2
Pegasus Airlines	Antalya, Istanbul-Sabiha Gökcen	2
Qatar Airways	Doha	2
Royal Air Maroc	Casablanca	2
Ryanair	Bergamo, London-Luton, Warsaw-Modlin (all begin 26 March 2015)	CPH Go
Scandinavian Airlines	Aalborg, Aarhus, Billund	1
Scandinavian Airlines	Aberdeen, Ålesund, Alicante, Amsterdam, Athens, Barcelona, Beijing-Capital, Bergen, Berlin-Tegel, Birmingham, Bologna, Bremen, Brussels, Bucharest, Budapest, Chicago-O'Hare, Dublin, Düsseldorf, Edinburgh (begins 29 March 2015), Frankfurt, Gdańsk, Geneva, Gothenburg-Landvetter, Hamburg, Hannover, Helsinki, Kristiansand, Leeds/Bradford (ends 1 December 2014), Linköping, London-Heathrow, Luxembourg, Málaga, Manchester, Milan-Linate, Milan-Malpensa, Moscow-Sheremetyevo, Munich, Newark, Newcastle, Nice, Oslo-Gardermoen, Palanga, Palma de Mallorca, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Poznań, Prague, Pristina, Rome-Fiumicino, Saint Petersburg, San Francisco, Shanghai-Pudong, Stavanger, Stockholm-Arlanda, Stuttgart, Tel Aviv-Ben Gurion, Tokyo-Narita, Trondheim, Vaasa, Venice-Marco Polo, Vilnius, Warsaw-Chopin, Washington-Dulles, Wrocław, Zurich Seasonal: Ankara (begins 4 April 2015), Bastia, Biarritz, Cagliari, Chania, Dubrovnik, Faro, Gazipaşa, Ivalo, Kiruna, Montpellier, Naples, Kittilä, Palermo, Pisa, Pristina, Pula, Salzburg, Split, Thessaloniki	3
Singapore Airlines	Singapore	2
Sun Express	İzmir	2
Swiss International Air Lines	Geneva, Zurich	2
TAP Portugal	Lisbon	2
Thai Airways	Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi Seasonal: Phuket	3
Thomson Airways	Seasonal: Montego Bay (begins 24 December 2014)	TBA
Transavia.com	Seasonal: Eindhoven	CPH Go
Turkish Airlines	Konya, Istanbul-Atatürk	2
Vueling	Alicante, Barcelona, Malaga Seasonal: Florence	2
Widerøe	Haugesund, Kristiansand, Molde, Sandefjord	3
WOW air	Reykjavík-Keflavík	2

Notes

^1 Check-in via Terminal 2. ^2 Two weekly flights from Copenhagen to Bangkok via Phuket. No direct flight in the other way – from Phuket to Copenhagen. ^3 Some flights operated by Blue1, Cimber Air, or Jet Time.

Cargo

Airlines	Destinations
Air China Cargo	Beijing-Capital
China Cargo Airlines	Shanghai-Pudong
DHL Aviation	East Midlands, Leipzig/Halle, Madrid, Oslo-Gardermoen, Stockholm-Arlanda
Emirates SkyCargo	Chicago-O'Hare, Dubai-International, Houston-Intercontinental, Los Angeles, Mexico City
FedEx Express	Helsinki, Paris-Charles de Gaulle
Korean Air Cargo	Seoul–Incheon
Singapore Airlines Cargo	Amsterdam, Brussels, Singapore
Star Air (Maersk Air)	Athens
UPS Airlines	Oslo-Gardermoen
West Air Sweden	Helsinki

Statistics

Norwegian Air Shuttle Boeing 737-300 taxiing at Copenhagen Airport

TUIfly Nordic Boeing 737-800 taxiing at Copenhagen Airport

Scandinavian Airlines Airbus A330-300 taxiing for takeoff from Copenhagen Airport

Busiest routes by passenger traffic (2013)

Destination	Airport(s)	Passengers
London	LGW, LHR, STN	1,637,520
Oslo	OSL, TRF	1,410,384
Stockholm	ARN, BMA	1,309,198
Aalborg	AAL	893,882
Paris	CDG, ORY	845,000
Amsterdam	AMS	822,858
Helsinki	HEL	777,804
Frankfurt	FRA	644,956
Berlin	SXF, TXL	527,191
Brussels	BRU	481,878
Milan	MXP, LIN	456,888
Zurich	ZRH	425,176
Vienna	VIE	424,472
Munich	MUC	398,379
Bergen	BGO	382,375
Reykjavík	KEF	379,302
Bangkok	BKK	372,069
Istanbul	IST, SAW	367,859
Barcelona	BCN	351,971
Gothenburg	GOT	304,401
New York City	JFK, EWR	264,687
Dubai	DXB	204,394
Lisbon	LIS	199,974
Antalya	AYT	182,108
Doha	DOH	156,492
Moscow	SVO	152,398

Other facilities

SAS traffic office resides at the airport, and so do Cimber Sterling's. Thomas Cook Airlines has both its head- and traffic office here as well as a flight simulator centre. All these reside at Copenhagen Airport South and in Dragør, Dragør Municipality together with a VIP-terminal. The VIP-terminal building is actually the very first terminal building, from the 1920s. It was moved about 2 km during the 1990s.

Ground transport

Within the airport area, special airport buses departure every 15th minute. The bus line connects all terminals and parking lot areas and uses in all 11 bus stops. The transport is free of charge for all. During a few night hours, the buses departure every 20th minute instead.

Train

Train towards Copenhagen Central Station at the Copenhagen Airport train station.

The airport's station is located underneath Terminal 3 on the Øresund Railway Line.

• The station is served by Øresundstogene and trains are operated by DSBFirst. These trains have a dense stopping pattern insde Denmark as local trains between Copenhagen's city centre and Helsingør. The Øresundståg operates regional and intercity trains to destinations across the south of Sweden: Malmö, Gothenburg, Kalmar, Karlskrona and Kristianstad.

• DSB, the Danish national rail operator, have InterCity and InterCityExpress trains calling at this station. Domestic destinations include Esbjerg, Aarhus, Aalborg and Sønderborg. DSB additionally runs trains to border cities of Germany and Sweden, such as Flensburg (Germany) and Ystad (Sweden), where a ferry connects the station to the Danish island Bornholm.

• Swedish SJ runs several high-speed trains with daily departures between Copenhagen central station (København H) and Stockholm central station (Stockholm C) and Gothenburg (Göteborg). These train all call at the Copenhagen Airport station (København Lufthavn/Kastrup).

Metro

Line M2 of the Copenhagen Metro links the airport with the city centre. The Metro station is two floors above the underground rail station and continues on elevated tracks until it goes underground after 5 stations.

Road

• Movia buses 5A, 35, 36 and Gråhundbus line 999 all stop at the airport; bus 888, express-bus to Jutland, also stops at the airport. Movia bus 2A stops near the airport. There are long-distance buses to Sweden and Norway operated by Swebus: 820 to Oslo via Gothenburg and 832 to Uppsala via Stockholm. GoByBus and Bus4You also operate the same routes.

• The E20 runs right by the airport. The E20 uses the toll road Øresund Bridge to Sweden. The airport has 8,600 parking spaces. Customers can pre-book their parking space online by visiting the Copenhagen Airport website [5].

Incidents and accidents

A Douglas Dakota, similar to the KLM aircraft that crashed in 1947.

• 26 January 1947 (1947-01-26) – Douglas Dakota, PH-TCR of KLM crashed after takeoff from Copenhagen, killing all 22 onboard, including Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden. The delayed KLM flight from Amsterdam had landed at Copenhagen for a routine stop before continuing to Stockholm. Soon after the Douglas DC-3 aircraft took off, it climbed to an altitude of about 50 metres (150 feet), stalled, and plummeted nose-first to the ground where it exploded on impact. Also aboard the ill-fated flight was American singer and actress Grace Moore. The investigation showed that the crash had been caused by a forgotten elevator gust lock. Short of time, the captain never performed his checklist and took off not realising the lock was still in place.

• 17 November 1957 (1957-11-17) – Vickers Viscount G-AOHP of British European Airways crashed at Ballerup after the failure of three engines on approach to Copenhagen Airport. The cause was a malfunction of the anti-icing system on the aircraft.

• 28 August 1971 (1971-08-28) – a Malév Ilyushin Il-18, HA-MOC crashed into the sea while executing an instrument approach. The main cause of the accident was microburst, a particularly dangerous and unpredictable meteorological phenomenon. 23 passengers and the crew of 9 died. 2 passengers survived. The captain of the plane was World War II flying ace of the Royal Hungarian Air Force, Dezső Szentgyörgyi. He was due to retire in less than 3 weeks.

See also

• List of airports in Denmark
• List of the busiest airports in the Nordic countries

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.

• AIP Denmark: Koebenhavn/Kastrup – EKCH
• VFR Flight Guide Denmark: Koebenhavn/Kastrup – EKCH

External links

Media related to Copenhagen Airport at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website