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Mönchengladbach Airport (EDLN) is a general aviation aerodrome in North Rhine-Westphalia, sited a few kilometres northeast of the city of Mönchengladbach and about 15 km west of Düsseldorf. Originally established from a British Army exercise airfield in 1955, it has grown into one of Germany's busiest general aviation fields, hosting flight training, business aviation and aircraft maintenance operations. Its single hard runway, tower service and ILS approach make it a practical and interesting VFR or IFR destination for visiting pilots.
Mönchengladbach Airport, known by its ICAO code EDLN and IATA code MGL, is a general aviation aerodrome serving the city of Mönchengladbach in North Rhine-Westphalia. It is co-owned by the operator of Düsseldorf Airport, which holds a 70 percent stake, alongside the local utility company NVV AG. Once a British military exercise airstrip, it has developed into one of the most significant general aviation airports in Germany, popular with flight training organisations, business aviation and aircraft maintenance operators, making it a worthwhile stop for a simulator pilot interested in general aviation flying rather than airline operations.
The airfield lies about 4.4 km northeast of Mönchengladbach and roughly 15.2 km west of Düsseldorf Airport, the next major international airport in the region. It sits close to the A44 highway, with road access via the Kreuz Neersen and Mönchengladbach-Ost interchanges, giving a useful ground reference for orientation when planning an approach. The field is served by Langen Information and Langen Radar, indicating it operates within airspace under the oversight of the wider Langen area control and flight information service.
Mönchengladbach has a single physical runway, 13/31, of 3924 ft with a hard surface. Both directions are lit and equipped with an ILS, giving pilots a usable instrument approach in poor weather as well as straightforward visual operations by day.
Traffic at Mönchengladbach is coordinated on Tower (Moenchengladbach Tower/Turm) at 120.455 MHz and Ground (Moenchengladbach Ground/Rollkontrolle) at 121.93 MHz, with Ground service published as operating from 09:00 to 13:00 and 15:00 to 19:00. An operations frequency of 131.565 MHz is available on request. Airport information and weather are broadcast on ATIS at 109.8 MHz (identified as Moenchengladbach ATIS, MHV). Wider area services are provided by Langen Information on AFIS at 129.875 MHz and Langen Radar at 128.555 MHz. The field is equipped with an ILS on runway 13/31.
Specific published circuit heights and joining instructions are not detailed in the available material, but arriving traffic should expect to work with Langen Information or Radar before contacting Mönchengladbach Tower for final approach and landing, given the tower and ground frequencies in use during published operating hours.
No formal visual reporting points are described in the available material, though the A44 highway and its Kreuz Neersen and Mönchengladbach-Ost junctions lie close to the airfield and can serve as useful ground references when inbound.
The airfield's origins lie in a 1955 exercise by the British Army of the Rhine, which built a basic field-made airstrip on grass for an air-landing exercise in line with contemporary NATO quick-reaction strategy. On completion of the exercise the British Army handed the site over to the Mayor of Mönchengladbach, and it was subsequently taken into use as a small airstrip for gliders. A hangar followed in 1957, with a control tower and passenger terminal added the next year. Construction of the paved runway still in use today began in 1970 and was completed in 1973. Between 1996 and 2002 the Belgian airline VLM operated direct Fokker 50 services to London City Airport, offering up to 24 weekly flights in each direction, while British airline Debonair flew to London Luton from 1996 to 1999 before European Air Express took over these routes and added services to Munich and Sylt/Westerland, ceasing operations in 2007. In 2016 the airport was rebranded from Düsseldorf Mönchengladbach Airport to simply Mönchengladbach Airport, adopting the corporate design of its majority shareholder, Düsseldorf Airport.
Mönchengladbach is today dominated by general aviation and business aviation rather than scheduled airline traffic, with around 50,000 aircraft movements a year making it one of the most important general aviation airports in Germany. Several flight schools operate from the field, including the RWL German Flight Academy, described as the largest private flight school in the country, offering instrument flight training among other courses. The airport also supports maintenance work on regional aircraft and business jets from around the world, and hosts occasional events such as vintage car and aircraft gatherings in the historic Hugo Junkers hangar. The site is additionally positioned as a testbed for zero-emission and alternative-propulsion aviation projects, including trial flights with electric aircraft.
