Departure
88%
vs 95% ▼ 7
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Twente Airport (EHTW) lies just outside Enschede in the eastern Netherlands, on the site of the former military airbase Vliegbasis Twenthe. Once a front-line NATO fighter base, it is now a restricted-use general aviation and business aviation field shared by local flying and gliding clubs, aircraft recycling operations and sustainable-aviation test activity. Its long, well-maintained ex-military runway and relatively quiet airspace make it a distinctive stop for the VFR pilot exploring Overijssel.
Twente Airport, ICAO code EHTW, sits just outside Enschede in the province of Overijssel. Built on the grounds of the former Vliegbasis Twenthe military airbase, it is today a restricted-use aerodrome operated as part of the Technology Base site, hosting the Vliegclub Twente flying club and the Twentsche Zweefvliegclub gliding club alongside business charter traffic, aircraft dismantling operations and trials of new and sustainable aviation technology. For a simulator pilot the appeal lies in its long, ex-military hard runway, its uncluttered airspace and its layered history as a Luftwaffe base, a Cold War fighter station and now an aviation test site.
The airfield lies about 3.7 kilometres (2 nautical miles) outside Enschede, situated between the towns of Enschede, Hengelo and Oldenzaal, roughly eight kilometres from the German border. Field elevation is 105 feet, at coordinates 52.2758N, 6.8892E.
Twente has a single physical runway, 05/23, with a hard surface and runway lighting. The 05 threshold measures 7873 feet and the 23 threshold 7872 feet, reflecting the runway's origins as a substantial military airfield. There is no ILS.
Twente Radio provides an airfield service on 119.955 MHz. Dutch Military Info can be reached on 132.355 MHz for wider information on military airspace activity in the area.
The airfield's position between Enschede, Hengelo and Oldenzaal, close to the German border, helps with orientation from the air. Two former runways from the airfield's military days, now used as taxiways and aircraft platforms (Platform A, the former runway 11/29, and Platform C, the former runway 16/34), remain visible on the airfield surface and can aid recognition of the field from the air.
Twente Airport opened in July 1931, opened by the mayor of Enschede, Edo Bergsma, and KLM began a scheduled service to Amsterdam in 1932, which was suspended in 1939. During the Second World War the German Luftwaffe took over the airfield as a military airbase, renaming it Fliegerhorst Twente. Allied forces reoccupied it in April 1945, redesignating it B 106/Twente before ownership passed to the Dutch armed forces; a clerical error in the transfer deed introduced the spelling Twenthe. Numerous Royal Air Force squadrons operated from the field briefly in April, June, August and September 1945. After the war it became a joint civil-military airport, and over the following decades based fighter and trainer types including the Gloster Meteor, Lockheed T-33, Fokker S.14 Machtrainer, Hawker Hunter, North American F-86K Sabre, Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, Northrop NF-5 and General Dynamics F-16. Military flying ceased on 7 December 2007, and the airport closed to civil aviation from 1 January 2008 pending a decision on its future. Following a provincial spatial plan agreed in June 2010 and a transfer of the airfield grounds to the Twente region and city of Enschede in December 2010, plans to reopen for scheduled commercial traffic were abandoned in 2014. In 2015 the Belgian firm Aeronextlife was approved to begin using the site for aircraft scrapping, and flights resumed on 1 May 2016 with the arrival of a Cessna Citation Sovereign from Doncaster Sheffield. In November 2016 Aircraft End-of-Life Solutions (AELS) took over the dismantling permit from Aeronextlife, and the first aircraft broken up under the new arrangement was an Airbus A340-300, HB-JMK, formerly of Swiss International Air Lines.
Twente Airport now operates as an officially designated General Aviation airfield, reopened on 30 March 2017 for private and business aircraft, aircraft nearing the end of their service life for dismantling on site, and manned and unmanned test flying. It forms part of Technology Base, described as a living lab for sustainable air mobility, with enclosed test facilities and capacity on the local electricity network to support electric aircraft charging. Flying activity includes the Vliegclub Twente flying club and the Twentsche Zweefvliegclub gliding club, together with business charter operators and periodic military and defence exercises. Occasional public events such as the Wheels and Wings rally and extended-hours flying evenings (flying until 22:00 on the longest days) are held at the field. Given its restricted-use status, prior permission is required to operate there.
