Rotterdam and aviation have been linked with each other for more than a century. Even before the opening of Rotterdam?s first airport, the airfield Waalhaven, Louis Blot was operating balloon flights above the centre of the city at the end of the 19th century. In 1920 the airfield Waalhaven was opened, just 2 months after the opening of Schiphol!

Waalhaven
In the twenties and thirties of the last century, aviation was surrounded by an aura of adventure, not surprisingly did the whole of the Netherlands avidly follow the achievements of Uiver in 1934.

The airfield Waalhaven, quickly proved to be a success and became the pride of the people of Rotterdam. The then young KLM operated many flights to and from Rotterdam, and even considered establishing its head office in Rotterdam. The local council quickly realised the need for more space for an airfield within the city boundaries, and in addition, the local authorities of both Rotterdam and The Hague were told by the government to work together on building an airport in the polders to the southeast of Delft. The polders concerned were Laag Zestienhoven and Schieveen. For decades these locations would prove to be interwoven throughout Rotterdam?s aviation history.Rotterdam's chauvinism and The Hague?s dithering prevented decisive action and in 1938 Rotterdam was granted permission from the government to build a new airport in the district Laag Zestienhoven; in 1939 Waalhaven took on a purely military function and was closed for civil aviation.

During the month of May 1940, Waalhaven was the scene of intense fighting and it were eventually Dutch fighter planes that destroyed the airfield and the nearby factory to prevent the complex from falling into German hands.

After liberation in 1945 it proved impossible to rebuild the airfield Waalhaven, and for this reason, the 1934 plans for the building of an airport to the north of the city were once again taken out of the cupboard. 

The Airport of Rotterdam
Although The Hague had approved the plans for a new airport in Rotterdam before the war, the state had other things on its mind in 1945. The building of a second national airport was the subject of discussion and in 1948 the cabinet designated the polder Schieveen for this purpose. Boards reading, 'Rotterdam builds national airport Schieveen', were posted along the A13, at that time still a 2-lane road. In 1952 minister Vos announced that this plan would not go ahead. This very much displeased the Rotterdam business community who saw a good airport as essential for the development of the city and the region. Subsequently, under pressure from the Chairman of the Rotterdam Chamber of Commerce, Mr. K.P. van de Mandelen, in 1955 permission was granted to build an airport for Rotterdam in the smaller of the two polders, Zestienhoven. Under no circumstances was this airport to be allowed to grow bigger than Schiphol.

On October 1st, 1956 the airport was officially opened by the mayor of Rotterdam, Dr. G.E. van Walsum. A Rotterdam civil airport proved to be a great success and business prospered, on account of which technical facilities were soon extended and the runway lengthened. Before long, important European airline companies such as Swissair, Lufthansa and Air France had included Rotterdam in their route networks and the number of passengers grew to a record high of half a million in 1971. The crowning glory of aviation success in Rotterdam was the opening of a new passenger terminal in 1970.

Stagnation in growth
In view of the constant, endless discussion concerning a second national airport in the Netherlands, Rotterdam council decided in 1972 that the polder Zestienhoven had to be made available for the building of a housing estate and that the airport therefore had to be closed. However, permission for this was not granted by the minister responsible. The uncertainty arising from all of this inevitably had a serious effect on business fervour, culminating in a downward spiral of activity. Nonetheless, the economic importance of an airport to Rotterdam remained undiminished, a fact recognised by the Council at the beginning of the 80's.  

A New Profile
Aware of the economic importance of the airport, it was decided in consultation between Rotterdam Council and Schiphol, (by then the owner of Rotterdam Airport BV) to come to an agreement regarding the use of the airport, and to lay down fixed conditions concerning form and extent of exploitation.
In the 90's these agreements were reached, resulting in a profile of Rotterdam Airport as an airport specialising in business scheduled services to European business centres, with room also for private business air traffic and holiday flights.
The economic growth of the 90's and the finally secure outlook, gave an unprecedented stimulus for the activities at the airport. The structural losses, which had been suffered since the 70's had soon been transformed into modest profits by means of a steady increase in numbers of flights and passengers.