Vliegveld Lelystad

Geschiedenis

Lelystad Airport is an airport 3.5NM south southeast of the city of Lelystad in the Netherlands. It is the biggest general aviation airport in the Netherlands. The first flights were in 1971 and it became an official airport in 1973. Schiphol Group became owner of the airport in 1993. It is home to the aviation museum Aviodrome, which has a former KLM Boeing 747-200 on display.HistoryIn 1966 it was decided that the newly created Flevopolder required a central airport. A suitable location with room for future expansion was found to the south of Lelystad. The first flights from this location took place in 1971, but it was not until 1973 that it received official status as an airport.At first Lelystad had grass taxi- and runways, but it was found that the clay could not support the traffic, as tracks started to form. Because of the often poor condition of the terrain, the airport suffered from frequent closure. To resolve this problem, in 1978 the first of the taxiways was hardened and in 1981 the runway was hardened. In 1991 the runway length was increased to 1250m, to try to attract more business aircraft.In 1993 the Schiphol Group became the owner of the airport. The Aviodrome museum moved to Lelystad Airport from Schiphol in 2003. Local flying school AIS Flight Academy started an airline in 2009, AIS Airlines, and is still headquartered at Lelystad Airport, although they do not operate any scheduled flights from Lelystad.