Leipzig Airport, Germany: Where you can see the world's largest passenger plane from a motorway

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This was published 6 years ago

Leipzig Airport, Germany: Where you can see the world's largest passenger plane from a motorway

By Hugh Morris
Updated
A Lufthansa A380 drives over a bridge over the A14 motorway at the airport in Leipzig, Germany, 01 June 2010.

A Lufthansa A380 drives over a bridge over the A14 motorway at the airport in Leipzig, Germany, 01 June 2010.Credit: Alamy

It's not often while driving along a motorway that the world's largest passenger jet trundles directly across your path.

But the spectacle - that is, the A380, above - is far from irregular for any motorists that frequent the A14 autobahn in Germany, linking the port city of Wismar with the town of Nossen. That's because, as the road navigates its way around Leipzig Airport, it does not so much as skirt the airport as it does run right through the middle of it.

Subsequently, planes large and small scheduled to depart or land on the airport's Runway North must traverse a taxiway bridge that crosses a busy motorway.

Its unusual positioning is the product of a shortage of space around Leipzig/Halle Airpot and its proximity to the A14. Allowing planes to taxi over the motorway - as well as a railway - provides more space for planes to use the full 3.6km of the runway.

See also: World's top 10 scariest airports for take-offs

Who flies into Leipzig?

Ryanair flies direct from London Stansted. And that's in terms of airlines linking the Saxony airport with the UK.

But the airport is the main hub for DHL cargo, as well as Aerologic.

In addition to Lufthansa (which operates flights to Frankfurt and Munich) and SunExpress, Austrian Airlines and RusLine, a number of carriers run seasonal and charter services to Leipzig/Halle.

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In 2017, the airport welcomed 2.3 million passengers and just under 70,000 plane movements. It handled 1.1 million tonnes of freight.

Why visit Leipzig?

The largest urban dot on the Saxony map (www.leipzig.travel) was a cultured jewel long before it was an Eastern Bloc workhorse. It recalls both these sides of its story.

The Museum in der Runden Ecke (www.runde-ecke-leipzig.de) remembers the state watchfulness of the GDR in an ex-Stasi bunker. The Bach Museum (www.bachmuseumleipzig.de) celebrates the 18th-century genius in the city which framed his compositions for the final 27 years of his life.

See also: Pilots name their 15 favourite airports to fly into

Do any other airports straddle motorways?

The construction of a new, sixth runway some distance west of the main airport hub at Amsterdam Schiphol meant that the connecting taxiways would need to cross the A5 road. It can take aircraft up to 20 minutes to taxi to and from the runway and terminal building.

The airport at Gibraltar is slightly different, in that they didn't bother with the bridge. Instead, the four-lane road that crosses the runway is controlled by traffic lights, whenever an aircraft is required to pass through. In addition, due to a shortage of natural land, the runway was built to extend into the sea.

Are any runways more dangerous than others?

Sift through our gallery of the world's trickiest landings and you'll see why some runways require an additional level of training for the pilots who tackle them. Of note is Madeira's airport, the runway of which has been extended more than once, the first in the wake of the crash of TAP Portugal Flight 425, which skidded off the end of the original strip. The runway now stands extended on stilts over a former beach.

Some, too, are on sand – for example, the Hebridean island of Barra's famous tidal tarmac; and some are on salt, such as Groom Lake in Nevada.

The Telegraph, London

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