To get to the sunny South, it’s best to start at Dortmund Airport 21.
Some 14 (mostly low-cost) airlines fly Germans to the most popular European vacation destinations from the airport.

About 1.7 million passengers traveled through Dortmund Airport in 2010, making it the only significant airport in the Ruhr Region.

Weeze Airport, which is northwest of the Ruhr Region in the county of Cleves near the Dutch border, is increasingly growing in importance.
With flights to Africa, Asia and other parts of Europe, the airport had a record 2.8 million passengers in 2010.
The Ryanair low-cost airline has a strong presence at the airport and played a big part in this success.

However, the international airports of Düsseldorf and Cologne, which are easy to reach by train or car, are still more important for the Ruhr Region.
Air traffic in the Rhine-Ruhr region is concentrated at Düsseldorf Airport.
Some 72 separate airlines (above all Air Berlin and Lufthansa) fly to 184 destinations in 50 countries worldwide.

Not only does it offer a dense European network, but the airport is gaining in importance as a hub for international connections as well, especially to North America and Asia. With about 19 million passengers a year (2010), Düsseldorf has the third-highest passenger revenue in Germany.