Leipzig/Halle Airport (German: Flughafen Leipzig/Halle) is an international airport located in Schkeuditz, Saxony, Germany and serves both Leipzig, Saxony, and Halle, Saxony-Anhalt. It is Germany's 14th largest airport by passengers and handled more than 2.61 million passengers in 2019 mainly with flights to European leisure destinations. In terms of cargo traffic, the airport is the fifth-busiest in Europe and the second-busiest in Germany after Frankfurt Airport, having handled 1,238,343 metric tonnes of cargo in 2019. The airport serves as the main European hub for DHL Aviation and the main hub for AeroLogic. Military installations have also been built at the airport for NATO and EU military aircraft. History The airport was built new from the ground up at a location between Halle and Leipzig from 1926 and opened in 1927. On 18 March 1986, Air France flew a Concorde to the airport, to coincide with the world-renowned Leipzig trade fair. Two days later British Airways also flew a Concorde to Leipzig/Halle. In the following years, both airlines operated Concorde flights from Paris and London when the trade fair was held in Leipzig. Despite its name, the airport is located in the town of Schkeuditz, Nordsachsen. A deal between the city of Leipzig and the Landkreis Delitzsch led to a land exchange. In 2007, Leipzig received land outside the airport while ownership of the airport land was transferred to Delitzsch. The District of Delitzsch, which by now has merged to become part of Landkreis Nordsachsen, owns and claims taxes from the grounds and commercial interest from the airport. DHL Aviation moved its European hub from Brussels Airport to Leipzig/Halle in early 2008, leading to a significant increase in cargo traffic at the airport. Leipzig bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games and the airport was modernised as a result, even though London was eventually awarded the games. In spring 2013, Ryanair announced the start of operations to Leipzig/Halle on six routes. However, one year later all of them except the flights to London–Stansted were terminated. In February 2015, Etihad Regional announced the immediate termination of all their Leipzig/Halle operations which had started only two years earlier, due to changes to their operational concept. All three routes were shut down while two newly announced ones did not start. In September 2016, Pakistan International Airlines announced plans to replace Manchester on their Islamabad - Manchester - New York City route with Leipzig/Halle in