Dortmund plans the best year yet; Wizz Air has grown 35% in a year
Some 28 airports in Germany have scheduled passenger flights this year. They include Dortmund, whose catchment area comprises around 11 million people in a 120-kilometre radius. As is usually the case, that population is shared by multiple airports.
Dortmund handled a record 3.24 million passengers 2025. Traffic rose by 4% from the prior high, which was in 2024. Compared to before the pandemic in 2019, throughput increased by 19%.
Various recent airline developments have helped these figures. For example, Condor arrived in 2024, replaced by partner Maribu last year. However, Maribu and Ryanair pulled out in 2025.
Two airlines join Dortmund’s portfolio in 2026. Condor returns on 1 May 2026 from Palma de Mallorca (daily), while GP Aviation will join Dortmund’s portfolio on 21 May from Pristina (2-weekly).
Wizz Air has over eight in ten seats
According to Cirium Dio schedule information for Q2 2026 (April-June), Dortmund has 1.12 million two-way seats. This is the highest volume in any quarter to date. And capacity has risen by 15% compared to the prior record in Q2, which was held in 2023.
Wizz Air accounts for virtually all the growth. The ULCC has 942,000 two-way seats, up by 35% year-over-year. It has never had so many available seats. Dortmund, which it serves for Dusseldorf and the broader state of North Rhine-Westphalia, is now the airline’s 10th busiest airport, up three places year-over-year.
Wizz Air has 33 routes in Q2, all but one of which is within Central and Eastern Europe and the Caucasus. The sole exception is London LTN, with that route beginning on 29 March 2026 (daily). The UK capital was last served by Ryanair in 2025, while easyJet operated for years until 2020.
Katowice is the leading market
Cirium data shows that Dortmund has flights to 38 airports in Q2. They are in 17 countries, with the most capacity deployed to Poland, Romania, Spain, Serbia and Turkey. The least-served nation is Georgia. Compared to Q2 2025, Slovakia and the UK are now served, but Croatia, Greece and Italy are no longer served.
With 120,000 two-way seats, Katowice is comfortably Dortmund’s top route. The relatively short market is flown 3-daily by Wizz Air in June. It is among the ULCC’s most-served routed in its entire network.
Compared to the same three months last year, these destinations are now served: Bratislava, London LTN, Nis, Olsztyn-Mazury, Oradea, Targu Mures and Wroclaw. Wizz Air introduced them all. However, these airports are no longer served: Catania, Kavala, Split and Thessaloniki. They were part of Eurowings’ network.
