Leipzig-Mockau Airport

After World War I, scheduled and special flights could be performed from 1919 and normal air traffic was resumed even later. After the lifting of the restrictions on air traffic imposed by the Allied Powers in 1923, the President of Germany, Friedrich Ebert, re-opened the »World Airport Leipzig«. This name was, of course, still far from reality.

However, only two years later in 1925, Leipzig counted 3,502 take-offs, which made the airport number three in the ranking of the most frequented hubs in Germany. Air traffic in Leipzig was above all operated by the company »Junkers Luftverkehr«, which served routes from and to Bremen, Hamburg, Berlin, Dresden, Breslau (Wroclaw), Frankfurt, Munich and Essen. Several new hangars were built, and in 1928 a new arrivals and administration building was constructed. Junkers Luftverkehr merged with Deutsche Lufthansa in 1926, and afterwards the government, which then was the authority for air traffic policy, focussed on the new Schkeuditz Airport. Thus, Mockau gradually lost its significance for air traffic.

The site gained significance for the aviation industry, however. Several major companies which were increasingly involved in arming the air force at the time the National Socialists assumed power had located their production facilities there. In 1938, the Wehrmacht finally took over the airport. At the end of World War II, large parts of the production facilities and the airport were destroyed in Allied air raids and the remaining facilities were dismantled.

Not until 1949 was it possible to provisionally re-establish flights at Mockau on the occasion of the Leipzig Fair (at first under Soviet administration). In 1955/56 the reception and air traffic control building was extended, the apron was concreted and other technical improvements were made when the airport was taken over by »Deutsche Lufthansa (Ost)« in 1956. Mockau was integrated into the GDR's domestic air route network. However, since the airport could no longer be expanded, flights during the Leipzig Fair were moved to Schkeuditz and later, in 1972, all remaining commercial flights were transferred there.

Timeline

• 1919: 950 aircraft land and take off between March and November.
• 1928: Junkers Flugzeug- und Motorenwerke AG establish a repair facility in Mockau.
• 1932: Construction of a 1,500m concrete runway.
• 1935: A factory of Erla Maschinenbau GmbH starts mass production.
• 14 April 1945: Production is cancelled. U.S. troops occupy the site two days later.
• 1 March 1963: The Leipzig Fair air traffic is moved to Schkeuditz.
• 6 March 1972: The last commercial aircraft takes off at Mockau. The airport is still used for agricultural aircraft.
• After 1990: Construction of the New Leipzig Trade Fair grounds and a facility of a mail-order company on the airport site.