Early years and World War II

The airport was built in 1939 to replace Böblingen Airport. In 1945, the United States Army took over the airport until returning it to German authorities in 1948.^{[citation needed]}

For the duration of the Cold War the runway and facilities were shared with the United States Army who operated helicopters, the Grumman OV-1 Mohawk and other fixed wing aircraft as Echterdingen Army Airfield on the southern portion of the airfield.^[6][7] Some of the units operating at Echterdingen were headquartered at nearby Nellingen Kaserne- now closed and redeveloped.^[8] In 1984–5, the 223rd Aviation Battalion (Combat) of the 11th Aviation Group (Combat) was headquartered at Echterdingen, with three aviation companies assigned (one at Schwäbisch Hall).^[9] The U.S. Army still maintains a small helicopter base - Stuttgart Army Airfield - on the southern side of the airport, which it shares with the Baden-Württemberg State Police helicopter wing. The police helicopter wing falls under the control of Stuttgart Police Department and has six modern helicopters based at Stuttgart and two in Söllingen.

The airport in the 1950s-1990s

The airport was expanded after World War II. The runway was extended to 1,800 m (5,906 ft) in 1948, then to 2,250 m (7,382 ft) in 1961 and finally to 3,345 m (10,974 ft) in 1996. Renovation was scheduled for 2020, full closure phase was preponed to be completed in April during the corona lockdown.^[10]

The original 1938 terminal was finally replaced in 2004 and there are now four terminals with a maximum capacity of approximately 12 million passengers.

Politicians, town planners and nearby residents have been arguing for years about the construction of a second runway. However, on 25 June 2008 Minister-President Günther Oettinger announced that for the next 8–12 years no second runway will be built and that the restrictions for night operations stay in place.^[11][12]

Development since 2010

After the death of former mayor Manfred Rommel in November 2013 local politicians proposed renaming the airport after him.^[13] This proposal caused public disputes as he was the son of Erwin Rommel but also highly respected for his work on intercultural affairs.^[14] In July 2014 it has been announced that the airport will be named Flughafen Stuttgart - Manfred Rommel Flughafen from now on.^[15] In September 2016, the airport unveiled new branding and corporate design, changing its official name from Flughafen Stuttgart to Stuttgart Airport.^[16]

In September 2014, United Airlines cancelled their route to Stuttgart from Newark due to insufficient demand^[17] leaving Stuttgart Airport with only one remaining long-haul connection to Atlanta provided by Delta Air Lines.

In October 2014, easyJet announced they would serve Stuttgart as their seventh German destination by March 2015.^[18] In December 2014, Ryanair also added Stuttgart as a destination in their network with six weekly flights to Manchester from April 2015.^[19]

Air Berlin announced the start of a service to Abu Dhabi from December 2014.^[20] On 31 May 2016, Air Berlin ceased its flights to Abu Dhabi.^[21] In October 2016, Air Berlin announced it would close its maintenance facilities at the airport due to cost cutting and restructuring measures.^[22]

In July 2020, Lauda announced the closure of their base at Stuttgart Airport – which has been operated as a wetlease for Ryanair — by October 2020. Prior to this announcement, the base staff rejected a new labour agreement.^[23] In October 2021, Delta Air Lines terminated their service to Atlanta after being suspended since 2020 and nearly 35 years of service,^[24] leaving the airport without any scheduled long-haul operations. However this route resumed in March 2023 after a three-year hiatus,^[25] albeit reduced to a seasonal service.^[26]

Passenger

The following airlines offer regular scheduled and charter flights at Stuttgart Airport:^[29]

Cargo

Passengers and movements

Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.

Annual passenger traffic at STR airport. See Wikidata query.

More information Passengers, Movements ...

	Passengers	Movements
1999	7,688,951	119,904
2000	8,141,020	150,451
2001	7,642,409	146,771
2002	7,284,319	144,208
2003	7,595,286	144,903
2004	8,831,216	156,885
2005	9,413,671	160,405
2006	10,111,346	164,735
2007	10,328,120	164,531
2008	9,932,887	160,243
2009	8,941,990	141,572
2010	9,226,546	135,335
2011	9,591,461	136,580
2012	9,735,087	131,524
2013	9,588,692	124,588
2014	9,728,710	122,818
2015	10,526,920	130,485
2016	10,640,610	129,704
2017	10,975,639	127,981
2018	11,832,634	137,632
2019	12,721,441	-
Source: Stuttgart Airport[67]

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Largest airlines

More information Rank, Airline ...

Largest airlines by passengers (2017)^[68]

Rank	Airline	%
1	Eurowings	36.2%
2	Air Berlin	7.2%
3	TUIfly	6.6%
4	Lufthansa	5.1%
5	SunExpress and SunExpress Deutschland	4.8%
6	Condor	4.7%
7	Turkish Airlines	4.6%
8	Niki	3.0%
9	EasyJet	2.9%
10	KLM	2.4%

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Busiest routes

More information Rank, Destination ...

Busiest domestic routes out of Stuttgart Airport (2017) ^[69]

Rank	Destination	Passengers
1	Berlin, Tegel Airport	1,037,000
2	Hamburg, Hamburg Airport	689,100
3	Hesse, Frankfurt Airport	370,500
4	Bavaria, Munich Airport	179,600
5	Lower Saxony, Hannover Airport	178,900
6	Bremen, Bremen Airport	163,400
7	North Rhine-Westphalia, Düsseldorf Airport	119,700
8	Saxony, Dresden Airport	102,100

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More information Rank, Destination ...

Busiest international routes out of Stuttgart Airport (2016)^[69]

Rank	Destination	Passengers
1	Spain, Palma de Mallorca Airport	730,700
2	Turkey, Istanbul (Atatürk Airport and Sabiha Gökçen Airport)	643,500
3	United Kingdom, London (Heathrow Airport, Stansted Airport and Gatwick Airport)	520,200
4	Austria, Vienna International Airport	367,100
5	Turkey, Antalya Airport	363,900
6	Netherlands, Amsterdam Airport	311,600
7	Spain, Barcelona Airport	239,800
8	Switzerland, Zurich Airport	193,800
9	Greece, Athens Airport, Thessaloniki Airport	180,000
10	France, Paris Paris–Charles de Gaulle Airport	178,700

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Car

There are two major highways: Just north of the airport runs the Bundesautobahn 8 (A8), which connects the cities of Karlsruhe and Stuttgart to Ulm, Augsburg and Munich. The Bundesstraße 27 (B27) leads to downtown Stuttgart, as well as to Tübingen and Reutlingen in the South.

Coach

From the regional cities of Esslingen am Neckar, Reutlingen, Tübingen and Kirchheim exists a connection by coach. Additionally, German long-distance coach operators DeinBus and Flixbus maintain their stop for Stuttgart on the airport grounds with direct connections to several major cities.

Suburban railway

Stuttgart Airport can be easily reached within 30 minutes from the city's main railway station using the Stuttgart suburban railway S2 or S3 from Stuttgart Flughafen/Messe station.

Future long-distance railway

It is planned to connect the airport with the future Stuttgart - Ulm high-speed railway line currently under construction as part of the major Stuttgart 21 railway redevelopment program. Therefore, a new long-distance train station will be built on the airport's grounds near the existing suburban railway station. The new station, which will be served by ICE high-speed trains will be connected to the new line by an underground loop track. The Stuttgart-Ulm line is scheduled to be opened in 2020. As of 2019, the airport connection is planned to commence operation in late 2025,^[70] versus an initial estimate of 2019 (made in 2010).