Departure
97%
vs 95% ▲ 2
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Hamburg-Finkenwerder Airport (EDHI/XFW) is a private aerodrome in the Finkenwerder quarter of southwest Hamburg, functioning as the airfield for Airbus's major final-assembly plant for the A320neo family. It is not open to scheduled public traffic, but its long ILS-equipped runway and steady flow of test, ferry and delivery flights make it a distinctive sight for any pilot operating in the Hamburg area.
Hamburg-Finkenwerder is a private airport owned and operated by Airbus, situated within the company's aircraft manufacturing plant in the Finkenwerder district of southwest Hamburg. It exists primarily to support corporate, freight, test and delivery flights connected with final assembly of the A320neo family, and has no scheduled passenger services, making it a specialised but historically rich field of interest to simulator pilots exploring the Hamburg region.
The airfield lies in the Finkenwerder quarter on the southern bank of the Elbe, southwest of central Hamburg and close to Hamburg's main commercial airport at Fuhlsbüttel. Radar service in the area is provided by Bremen Radar, with Langen Information available on 125.1 MHz for wider en-route advisory coverage.
The airport has a single physical runway aligned 05/23, hard-surfaced and lit, with an ILS on both directions. Runway 05 is 8566 ft long and runway 23 is 8250 ft long. Field elevation is 13 ft.
Finkenwerder Tower operates on 123.25 MHz, with a separate Apron/Vorfeld frequency on 121.655 MHz. A Finkenwerder ATIS broadcast is available on 135.965 MHz. An A/D frequency of 124.225 MHz is also listed, alongside Langen Information on 125.1 MHz for regional flight information. Both runway directions are served by ILS.
The airfield's origins lie with the Blohm & Voss shipbuilding company, which expanded into aircraft manufacturing in 1933 in anticipation of demand for all-metal flying boats, forming the subsidiary Hamburger Flugzeugbau (HFB). The Finkenwerder aircraft works and its associated airfield were established in 1939, and the site suffered heavy damage during the Second World War before manufacturing resumed under the HFB name. During the Berlin Airlift, detachments from No. 201 Squadron RAF and No. 230 Squadron RAF flew Short Sunderland flying boats from the vicinity, and the foundations of the wartime Fink II submarine pen remain to this day east of the northern end of the runway. In 1964 the airfield saw the first flights of both the HFB 320 Hansa Jet and the third prototype Transall C-160. Through subsequent mergers, HFB's Finkenwerder facility became part of Airbus. Between April 2006 and July 2007 the runway was extended at its southern end from 2,684 to 3,183 metres to accommodate the then-planned freighter version of the Airbus A380. In 1967 a Spantax Convair 990 Coronado pilot mistook the airfield's shorter runway for that of Hamburg Fuhlsbüttel and only just managed to stop before the runway end.
Today the site is an integral part of Airbus's Hamburg plant, employing around 15,000 people and hosting four final assembly lines for the A320neo family, a large global spares centre, and maintenance and training facilities for the type. The Hamburg factory also produces fuselage sections for the A330neo and A350 for final assembly in France. There are no scheduled public services, with around 10 to 15 aircraft movements a day, mostly transfer, freight and test flights tied to manufacturing. Since November 2019 a twice-daily corporate shuttle to the Airbus plant in Toulouse has been operated by Volotea. Airbus offers factory tours and a visitor terrace overlooking the runway. As a private, company-operated airfield, prior permission is required for any visiting flight.
