Düsseldorf Airport is the fourth-largest airport in Germany. It is 6 km north of Düsseldorf and serves as gateway to the city and as primary airport of the Ruhr Area. DUS offers flights all across Europe, to the classic Mediterranean holiday destinations, and numerous trans-continental flights. The airport can be accessed by two train stations, the larger of the two being served by long-distance ICE trains to domestic and foreign cities like Cologne, Frankfurt and its airport, Munich and Amsterdam.

Understand

Düsseldorf Airport is 4 km north-east of the Düsseldorf fair grounds. First opened in 1927 its seen numerous expansions and has three terminals, called Terminals A, B and C. Terminals A and B were completely rebuilt after a deadly fire in 1996 and offer a very modern and safe experience. Shops and restaurants can be found on the ground floor and in the basement levels.

The airports location along the Cologne—Duisburg railway and near multiple Autobahn highways makes getting there quite easy and allows quick access to the city, the nearby Ruhr, as well as destinations in the eastern Netherlands.

Transfers between flights are possible without having to leave the airside and security zone.

• Terminal A: Lufthansa and Star-Alliance flights
• Terminal B: One World and SkyTeam flights
• Terminal C: other various flights, including non-Schengen destinations

Flights

Düsseldorf is the fourth largest international airport in Germany after Frankfurt am Main, Munich and Berlin and has numerous flights from European city destinations and warm-water destinations around the Mediterranean, as well as a few long-haul flights. However, there are no flights from the USA.

The airport's website provides an official, up-to-date overview of all airlines and their destinations. It may also be advisable to compare destinations and prices with Cologne/Bonn Airport, which is around 60 km to the south.

The following scheduled flights are available to Düsseldorf from German-speaking countries:

• Austrian Airlines from Vienna
• Eurowings from Berlin, Dresden, Graz, Hamburg, Munich, Salzburg, Vienna and Zurich
• Lufthansa from Frankfurt am Main and Munich
• Swiss International Air Lines from Zurich

Long-haul flights will be operated from Düsseldorf to the following destinations as of 2023

• North America: Atlanta (Delta Air Lines)
• Caribbean: Barbados, Fort-de-France, Montego Bay & Punta Cana (Condor, all as charter)
• Middle East: Abu Dhabi (Condor as charter, Etihad Airways), Amman (Royal Jordanian), Dubai (Condor as charter, Emirates) & Doha (Qatar Airways)

DUS is a hub for budget airline Eurowings, they and other budget lines serve destinations all over Europe and to the typical mediterranean holiday destinations

Ground transportation

By train

SkyTrain between Terminal and Flughafen rail station

Düsseldorf Airport is served by two different train stations: The smaller 1 Düsseldorf Airport Terminal , which is accessed underground beneath the terminal and used by local suburban S-Bahn trains of line S11, and 2 Düsseldorf Flughafen station, which is the larger one used by regional and long-distance (IC, ICE) trains. Unless your hotel happens to be directly along one of the S-Bahn stops, you're almost always going to use the larger Düsseldorf Flughafen station.

This station, the various longterm parking garages and the three Terminals A, B and C are connected with each other by a short monorail line called the SkyTrain, which is not free, but should be included in your train ticket.

If you're just going between Düsseldorf city and the airport, your best bet is one of the many regional lines, all of which take about 5 minutes for the station to station trip and cost €3.30. This ticket will also allow you to use any bus, tram or subway to get to your final stop within the city. There are no barriers, you are expected and trusted to have a valid ticket before boarding any train. The ticket machines can all be switched to be in English.

By bus

Local buses stop outside the terminals on the ground level. Route 721 runs through various neighbourhoods and also stops at the Central train station, but can be slow and busy. Route SB51 crosses the Rhine River, stops at Seestern business district and carries on to Kaarst city.

A new line of the local Stadtbahn light rail system (a hybrid of trams and subway) is being built and will allow quick and easy trips to the exhibition grounds and the city centre once it opens in 2025.

By taxi

Taxi ranks can be found outside the terminals on the lower floor. Taxis are all painted in ivory. Various sizes are available, unless you need one with a lot of space, it's courtesy to just take whoever is at the tip of the line-up. A trip to the central train station in the city centre will cost around €30.

By car

Düsseldorf is located inside of a dense web of major highways and fragmented urban highways. The longest Highway passing by is Autobahn A3 which runs from the dutch border near Arnhem (129 km), past Düsseldorf and Cologne (60 km), running directly through the grounds of Frankfurt Airport (227 km) and keeping a steady south-eastern course past Nuremburg until reaching the Austrian border.
Autobahn A52 goes to Essen and ends at the Intersection with A40 which crosses the Ruhr Area at this end, the other end of A52 ends at the dutch border near Roermond.
A57 can be reached via A44 and passes Weeze Airport before ending at the dutch border south of Nijmegen.

Various other highways and arterial roads cross the entire region, some highways are fragmented into various stretches where local opposition has stopped further construction to link them up. It's really recommended to use a navigation system or your phone's navigation to route you through it all.

Parking is available in various multi-storey and underground garages, for detailed information see the airport's own website.
If you're dropping or picking someone off and bringing them to the terminal, a special pick-up and drop-off ticket is available to access garage P3, located near the Terminals, costing €5.00 for a maximum time of 90 minutes.

If you are JUST dropping someone off, you have exactly 7 minutes to give them a kiss and drop them off before being charged €5 for every additional five minutes up to a maximum time of 30 minutes. This is regulated through automatic barriers that read your licence plate.

By rental car

The usual large international car rental companies are also found here, spread around the vicinity of the Terminal within walking distance

Get around

The airport is a large and major one but still small enough that you can walk around without getting exhausted or lost like at Frankfurt. The three terminals are all one long connected structures. Parking garages P4 and P5 are accessible via the SkyTrain. All other parking spots and the Hotels are directly next to the Terminals, it's all very compact.

Wait

Düsseldorf Airport offers frequent flyers and paying customers the following lounges to bridge the waiting time until departure:

• Lufthansa Business Lounge: Access for StarAlliance Business Class guests, Miles & More Frequent Travellers as well as Cathay Pacific Business and First Class (departure area A, Schengen, level above the departures at gate A50)
• Lufthansa Senator Lounge: Access for StarAlliance Gold members as well as Lufthansa and SWISS First Class travellers (departure area A, Schengen, level above departures at gate A50)
• Hugo Junkers Lounge: Access for OneWorld Sapphire and Emerald members, OneWorld Business and First Class guests, PriorityPass and paying guests (departure area B, Schengen, upper departures level near the security checkpoint)
• OpenSky Lounge: Access for guests of various airlines (departure area C, non-Schengen)
• Emirates Lounge: Access for Skywards Gold and Platinum members as well as Emirates Business and First Class guests (departure area C, non-Schengen)

Cope

Information desks can be found on the departures level directly opposite the "B2B" café, in arrivals and at the railway station (often not manned). The airport's main information desk is located in the central arrivals area at belt 6, which is also the separately signposted airport meeting point. For telephone information call +49 211-4210.

ATMs can be found on the departures and arrivals levels as well as at the "Düsseldorf Flughafen" railway station. There are also two branches of Reisebank to exchange currency on the departures level in the terminal and a branch of Stadt-Sparkasse Düsseldorf bank on the arrivals level.

The lost property office of the airport is on the ground floor of car park 3. Opening hours: 04:00-00:00. Telephone: +49 211-421-2515

A left luggage office is available daily 04:00-00:00 on the ground floor of car park 3 (Tel. 0211-4212515). Luggage up to 30 kg costs €2.50 per item and calendar day.

Cloakroom service at this luggage storage facility allows you to leave your thick coat at the airport in winter if you are flying to the sunny south and put it back on when you return. Price: €1 per item and calendar day, from one week: €5 per week.

Telekom WiFi is available in the entire area. There are a total of six internet terminals in the terminal building (1x each at boarding gates A, B and C, arrival level in front of McDonald's and 2x arrival level near the airport information desk.

A Federal Police / Bundespolizei counter is inside the Terminal and open daily 06:00-21:00, the next 1 Federal Police station is at Frachtstraße 11 behind Garage P7.