Ejsberg Airport

Esbjerg was one of the first towns in Denmark to have an airport of its own.

On the 18th of July 1937 the first airport in Esbjerg was opened. It was located in Kjersing on a site, which is now part of the town of Esbjerg. The unique thing about this airport was that SAS, which was called DDL in those days, set up its first domestic route from there. The first season ran from the 18th of July till the 15th of September, during which time 337 passengers were carried/serviced.

As the years went by the number of operations from the airport increased. Plans were made to set up a new, modern airport. Various governments adopted and postponed many such plans. In 1968 the search for oil in the North Sea was initiated. In addition to the already on-going traffic, this meant a great deal of helicopter flights between Esbjerg and the oilrigs in the North Sea. Little by little it became clear that only the town council of Esbjerg could change the precarious situation.

The construction of the new airport was initiated in the spring of 1970. The cost of construction was budgeted at DKK 16.9 mill. The airport’s consultant was civil engineer C.V. Hansen, who was airport manager at Tirstrup. The number of passengers was estimated at 55,000 passengers in the opening year of 1971 and 263,000 in 1983.

Now the city of Ejsberg  preserving the best traditions for domestic flights, never forgets of being the first city to have the airport of its own.