June 11, 2025, 4:11 am | Read time: 3 minutes
In the midst of the vacation season, Kassel Airport is eerily empty. Despite excellent transport connections and millions in investments, only a handful of flights are taking off during the summer holidays. Why does the state of Hesse continue to support the airport? The answer lies between economic development and hope for improvement.
Despite millions invested in the regional airport Kassel-Calden, which is simply called “Kassel Airport,” the expected influx has not materialized. Between June 28 and August 15, during the summer holidays in Hesse and neighboring states, only 35 departures are planned according to a report by BILD–not daily, but in total. The official summer flight schedule even shows several days with no flights at all, such as from June 30 to July 2 and from July 7 to 9.
Overview
Conveniently located but rarely used
The airport’s infrastructure is actually promising. The catchment area includes northern Hesse with Kassel, parts of southern Lower Saxony, eastern North Rhine-Westphalia, and western Thuringia. Four highways intersect nearby, federal roads provide additional connections, and around 1,400 free parking spaces are available. Nevertheless, usage falls far short of capacity.
Airlines avoid Kassel-Calden
Despite good connectivity, the airport is apparently not attractive to many airlines. Major names are absent from the flight schedule. Former providers like Corendon and Sundair withdrew after a short time. Currently, only smaller airlines like Sky Alps, Albastar, and MHS Aviation operate from Kassel-Calden. The airport is designed for up to 700,000 passengers annually–in 2024, however, only 82,983 people used it.
Only four vacation destinations available
The summer flight schedule for Kassel Airport includes connections to only four fixed destinations: Palma de Mallorca, Bolzano in South Tyrol, Sylt, and Usedom. There are also some special flights outside the holiday season. Although the flight schedule is already in effect, it is still officially labeled as “provisional.” By the end of its term in the fall, around 120 departures are planned in total–for comparison, Frankfurt Airport has 590 per day.
An expensive airport with little traffic
Although Kassel-Calden is one of the least used airports in Germany, it costs the state and region a great deal. The investment sum has now reached 340 million euros. The construction alone consumed 280 million euros, and since its opening in 2013, the airport has consistently posted losses–in 2024 alone, it was 5 million euros. Overall, the deficits have now accumulated to 60 million euros. Originally, the operation was supposed to be cost-covering by 2020 at the latest.
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Political support despite deficits
Despite the ongoing red numbers, the state government continues to support the project. Even opposition parties like the FDP back the airport. The reasoning: “Job engine.” The airport itself employs 1,100 people, and an additional 1,287 jobs are in the 40 adjacent companies. Moreover, tax revenues amounting to around 73 million euros, according to the state government, bring in more than the airport’s losses cost.