What’s On The Horizon For: Nuremberg Airport

During Routes Europe 2025, Nuremberg Airport unveiled the framework behind its recent route successes and outlined future expansion opportunities designed to sustain passenger growth.

Located in Bavaria’s second-largest city, Nuremberg Airport (NUE) surpassed 4 million passengers in 2024—its highest total since the pandemic—and now offers connections to more than 60 destinations across Europe and Africa.

The airport serves a catchment area of around 5 million people and benefits from a strong blend of business and leisure demand, supported by major regional employers such as Siemens, Adidas and Puma. Leisure traffic continues to grow, now accounting for more than one-third of NUE’s overall passenger volume.

NUE’s summer 2025 schedule has seen a significant enhancement with Marabu basing a third aircraft at the airport, operating 50X-weekly flights to 14 destinations. The carrier has added new routes to Ibiza, Olbia, Larnaca and Funchal, and will launch service to Kavala—Nuremberg’s twin city—on Aug. 1.

Wizz Air has also expanded its footprint in NUE, operating a 3X-weekly route to Varna and planning to launch new 2X-weekly services to Timișoara and Brașov in October. Meanwhile, Corendon Airlines will introduce flights to Sharm El Sheikh for the winter season, responding to strong demand for North African sun destinations.

Speaking at Routes Europe 2025 in Seville, Christian Käser, vice president of aviation sales and traffic development at NUE, the airport’s “Blue Ocean Airport Nürnberg” strategy has underpinned its recent success.

“There are still a lot of routes with less or no competition but existing market demand,” Käser said. He added that current expansion efforts are focused on the Nordic and Baltic regions as well as the UK.

Reflecting on the Routes Europe event, Käser said it provided valuable opportunities for engagement: “Routes is always a great addition to our sales activities and strategy. It’s great to personally get together with airlines, have an open dialogue and informal connection opportunities.”

As a Routes 360 member, the airport showcases its growth potential, latest development and unserved route opportunities across the community.