Halle/Leipzig Airport 1927-1945

Soon after the airport in Halle-Nietleben was opened, the administration realised that it was unable to meet the rapidly increasing demand and, moreover, that it could not be adequately expanded. At the same time the Ministry of Transport was making an effort to re-organise aviation in Central Germany. Thus, the idea of building one large airport to serve the entire Halle/Leipzig area emerged. The construction of a new airport in Schkeuditz, halfway between the two towns, was carried out in spite of opposition from the town of Leipzig and the administration of Saxony.

The design for the entire airport facilities was developed by Paul Thiersch, Head of the Burg Giebichenstein School of Arts. Apart from the airfield and its facilities, a hangar and a provisional administration building were constructed in just eight months. 25 April 1927, the new complex, now called Halle/Leipzig Airport, was put into operation. Two years later, 20,000 passengers were recorded, most of them flying the three international and nine domestic routes.

In spring 1931 an airport restaurant was added to the existing airport facilities, marking the architectural highlight of the complex: Hans Wittwer, Thiersch's successor at Burg Giebichenstein, designed a clear, airy and functional building which owed its appeal to the contrasts of solidity and delicate elegance, of compactness and transparency. Thus, the airport turned into a popular destination for day-trippers; in the first year after its opening, the restaurant attracted around 60,000 people.

A new check-in and administration building was constructed between 1936 and 1938, designed and fitted in the architectural style of the National Socialism.

In 1937 Halle/Leipzig Airport was number four in the ranking of most frequented airports in Germany. Six foreign airlines ran regular connections to Leipzig; more than 40 aircraft took off every day. This development was abruptly halted when World War II broke out. Civil aviation was cancelled on 1 September 1939 and the airport was taken over by the Luftwaffe. The Lufthansa workshops on the site and a factory of Siebel Aircraft Works now produced for the military. On 16 April 1944, Allied bombers destroyed large parts of the facility, among them the restaurant building.

Timeline

• 1 September 1926: The first sod is turned in Schkeuditz.
• 20 March 1928: Flughafengesellschaft Halle/Leipzig mbH is founded. The major shareholders were the town of Halle, Prussia and the German Reich.
• 1928: Construction of a 400m concrete runway. 24 August 1928: First night take-offs and landings.
• 1930: First night route from Berlin-Tempelhof to Schkeuditz. May
• 1933: The architect of the airport restaurant, Hans Wittwer, loses his professorial chair at Burg Giebichenstein after the National Socialists assumed power. He is forced to abandon his work on the further planning of the airport.
• 24 July 1937: Topping-out ceremony for the new check-in and administration building.