Departure
97%
vs 95% ▲ 2
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Rostock-Laage Airport (ETNL/RLG) is a joint civil-military aerodrome near Laage in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, serving the city of Rostock and hosting the German Air Force's Jagdgeschwader 73. Its long, ILS-equipped runway and mix of scheduled, charter and military traffic make it a distinctive stop for a VFR pilot exploring northern Germany.
Rostock-Laage Airport lies near the town of Laage in the Rostock district of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and takes its name from that town even though it primarily serves the nearby city of Rostock. It is a dual-use facility, combining a civilian passenger terminal with a large military airfield home to Jagdgeschwader 73 of the German Air Force. For a simulator pilot, the field offers an interesting mix of scheduled airline movements, general aviation traffic, flight training activity and fast-jet operations sharing the same long runway.
The airport sits within the Rostock district of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, close to the town of Laage, roughly midway between the larger centres of Rostock and Güstrow. It is a considerable distance from other major airports, with Berlin Brandenburg Airport around 190 kilometres to the south and Hamburg Airport about 200 kilometres to the west, making Rostock-Laage a relatively isolated but significant aerodrome for the region. Traffic is coordinated through Berlin Radar for area control and Langen Information for flight information service in the surrounding airspace.
Rostock-Laage has a single physical runway, 09/27, some 8,245 feet in length with a hard surface. Both directions are lit and served by an ILS, reflecting the field's dual role as a military fast-jet base and a civil airport capable of handling everything from general aviation types to wide-body jets.
Pilots should expect to work Laage Tower on 118.43 MHz for tower services, with a radar frequency available on 123.3 MHz. An AFIS/flight information service is provided by Langen Information on 132.65 MHz, and the field broadcasts its own ATIS on 134.605 MHz. Wider area traffic is handled by Berlin Radar on 126.175 MHz. The runway's ILS supports instrument approaches to 09/27.
Construction of the airfield began in 1979 as a facility of the East German National People's Army, and it became operational in 1984 hosting Fighter Wing JBG 77 and Navy Fighter Wing 28. Following German reunification the Bundeswehr deactivated the base in 1990, but it was reactivated in 1993 when Jagdgeschwader 73 was posted there, and in the same year civilian operations began on a 60-hectare section of the site under Flughafen Rostock Laage-Güstrow GmbH. The airport has since seen a series of changes in civil airline service, including the arrival and later withdrawal of routes operated by carriers such as Flybmi, Lufthansa, Germania and Condor. In June 2023 the airfield played a part in Air Defender 23, described as the largest exercise of air forces since NATO's founding.
Rostock-Laage remains a joint civil-military airport. On the military side it is home to Jagdgeschwader 73 of the German Air Force, while the civil side operates a passenger terminal handling scheduled and seasonal charter flights, including routes to destinations such as Antalya, and non-public charter flights linked to cruise operations from nearby Warnemunde. In February 2021, Lufthansa Aviation Training relocated its practical flight training operations to Rostock-Laage from Bremen Airport, adding to the general aviation activity at the field alongside stands provided for smaller aircraft.
