EA has celebrated many birthdays already. Together with the military Eindhoven Air Base and the Eindhoven Aeroclub Motor Flying, we have been using the airfield for quite some time. A piece of history in a nutshell:

On September 10, 1932 the official opening of Welschap Airport took place. Important in this was the role of Philips the owners of that company wanted an airport to be built to do business more easily with other countries. The first airport building was located in the neighborhood now called Meerhoven.

In 1939, the airfield was requisitioned by the Royal Air Force. During the war, the Germans expanded the airport with, among other things, a paved runway.

In 1984, Eindhoven Airport's airport building was officially opened by then-Prince Claus.

In 1985, Pope John Paul II arrived at Eindhoven Airport. Many more celebrities followed.

In 1988, first PSV was welcomed with the European Cup I and later in the year the Dutch national team as European champions.

In 1996, the Hercules disaster occurred at Eindhoven Air Base. 34 of the 41 occupants lost their lives when their plane crashed at the airbase. Every year on July 15th, a commemoration of this tragedy takes place at the monument on the airbase. At Eindhoven Airport, we work closely with our 'neighbor' Eindhoven Air Base. In fact, the runway we use is owned by Eindhoven Air Base. We also use the services of the airbase for the control tower, the Birdwatch (Birdcontrol), the meteo and the fire department. These play an important role in the handling of air traffic. For example, the air traffic controller in the control tower is responsible for the safe handling of air traffic; the order of takeoff and landing at the airport. Among other things, the Bird Watch ensures that there are as few birds as possible near the runway. From the meteo we get the weather forecasts and all relevant information about the weather and the fire department comes directly to the scene in case of a (possible) calamity involving an aircraft.

Eindhoven Airport is (after Schiphol) the second largest airport in the Netherlands. In 2023, the airport had 41,496 takeoffs and landings and over 6.8 million passengers (departures and arrivals added up). The airport has 84 destinations. Nine airlines operate at the airport (2023 figures)