What appears as a simple sports field today once connected Cologne to the world. This is the Historischer Hubschrauber Landeplatz. It served as Cologne’s international heliport.
From 1953 to 1966, this unassuming spot buzzed with activity. Imagine helicopters landing and taking off. They linked Cologne to Brussels and onward to New York.
Back then, the Deutsche Lufthansa couldn’t fly directly to America. The Belgian airline Sabena stepped in. Sabena established a helicopter service. It transported passengers from Cologne to Brussels. From there, travelers boarded Sabena planes for transatlantic flights. Thus, the Historischer Hubschrauber Landeplatz became Cologne’s third international airport after Butzweilerhof and Cologne-Wahn.
The heliport operated from 7 am to 7 pm. Flights were also available on Sundays upon request. Federal agencies were on-site. These included a flight weather service, a passport control office, and a customs branch.
Getting here was easy. Tram lines 1, 3, and 5 served the heliport. The Westbahnhof train station was also nearby. A round-trip ticket to Brussels cost 72 DM. The flight took about 50 minutes without stops. If needed, flights extended to Liège or Maastricht.
Interestingly, bad weather grounded the helicopters. Sabena then transported passengers to Brussels by first-class train. The director of the Heliport Kln was Franz Knapp.
Despite its success, the helicopter service impacted Sabena’s passenger numbers. Regular passenger planes at Cologne-Wahn saw a decline. The income barely covered half the operating costs. The Cologne and Bonn feeder services were only economical due to international connecting flights.
In 1961, Lufthansa began flights from Cologne/Bonn to New York. Sabena’s passenger numbers decreased. The helicopter service became unprofitable. Sabena introduced a regular airplane service on the Cologne-Brussels route. The company gradually discontinued the heliport service.
After thousands of takeoffs and landings, the Historischer Hubschrauber Landeplatz closed on April 1, 1966. The final flight departed for Brussels at 1:30 pm.
Today, little remains of the heliport’s past. The former landing area is now a basketball court. The site of the terminal building is now a tennis court. However, in 2023, renovation work started to preserve this piece of history. Despite initial plans to erase the original concrete, efforts were made to recognize the site’s importance.
Next time you see a basketball game here, remember its unique story. The Historischer Hubschrauber Landeplatz once connected Cologne to the world.