Düsseldorf Airport opened its first direct link to the Stadtbahn network on Friday, with regular passenger services starting at 14:00 on the new Flughafen Terminal station. The 1.9-kilometre extension from Freiligrathplatz to Terminal C brings U80 services into the airport, giving travellers a direct rail connection between Düsseldorf Hauptbahnhof and the terminal in about 18 minutes.
The City of Düsseldorf marked the opening with Oberbürgermeister Dr. Stephan Keller, Bundesverkehrs-Staatssekretärin Dr. Claudia Elif Stutz and NRW Ministerpräsident Hendrik Wüst present. The project took seven years to complete and came later than originally planned, at a cost of about 336 million euros.
U80 runs typically every 20 minutes, while U81 serves Messe and arena traffic on major event days, with a journey time of about seven minutes. The airport station access is outside the terminal, and the first trains reach the airport shortly after 04:00, with the last departures around 01:00. The new lines are intended to improve public-transport access to the airport and strengthen links across the airport, city-centre and Messe/Arena corridor.