Airport MGL

From General Aviation to Zero Emission Aviation or how tradition becomes innovation: Mönchengladbach Airport (MGL) brings its potential to the starting line. With nearly 50,000 aircraft movements per year, MGL is one of the most important general aviation airports in Germany. Business pilots appreciate the central location, the weather-independent accessibility and the fast handling. Flight schools offer instrument flight training here. Regional aircraft and business jets from all over the world come to Mönchengladbach for maintenance. Private pilots find a home for their aircraft in the hangars. But the powerful aviation cluster also continues to develop and is strengthened by innovative projects such as the development of new flight systems.

An expert report by the German Aerospace Center has confirmed the great potential of Mönchengladbach Airport. The area is to be expanded in the coming years. Thanks to the existing infrastructure consisting of a control zone and an instrument landing system (ILS), MGL can operate largely independently of the weather, offering customers, users and also the region a controlled and safe handling of air traffic and important added value for the economic development of the region.

As a business location with around 45 companies and authorities with more than 770 employees, the airport is already booming. Currently, the most important areas of the airport are the maintenance of a wide variety of aircraft types and engines, for example at RAS, education and training offers from the resident flight schools – with the RWL German Flight Academy, the largest airline-independent flight school in Germany is located at the airport – as well as events and tourism through the Hugo Junkers Hangar. Through EWMG, Mönchengladbach is the majority shareholder in Mönchengladbach Airport.

At a time when flying is being rethought, the airport is also positioning itself as an innovation center and real laboratory. MGL is committed to research into future-proof and sustainable concepts in aviation and the consistent alignment of the airport with the new technologies. Here, procedures are developed and resiliently tested on how manned and unmanned flying objects can interact with each other in regular operations without interference – in a complex airspace as well as with the necessary processes and systems on the ground.

MGL is also leading the way as an innovation airport and “smart airport” in the major future issues of climate protection and digitalization. The focus here is on alternative propulsion technologies in aviation. Initial test flights with an electric aircraft have highlighted the growing potential, especially in pilot training. With its own electric charger, powered by its own green photovoltaic electricity, MGL is making a significant contribution to developing NRW into a hub for green mobility and electric flying.