en.Wedoany.com Reported - The European Commission has approved a €4.5 million state aid subsidy for Paderborn/Lippstadt Airport to invest in and improve the quality of infrastructure to maintain commercial operations. The airport stated that it needs time to respond to this news.

The regional airport typically struggles to compete with larger airports such as Düsseldorf. Its shareholders are primarily local governments, especially the district of Paderborn, which considers the airport crucial for the local economy and residents' travel.

The COVID-19 pandemic and travel restrictions led to a sharp decline in passenger numbers, severely impacting the airport. In 2020, the airport initiated self-administered insolvency proceedings. After seven months and layoffs, it resumed normal operations in May 2021. Yorck Streitbörger, the restructuring director at the time, stated that the airport had cleared its debts, completed restructuring, and achieved financial sustainability. The district of Paderborn, as the main shareholder, holds nearly two-thirds of the shares.

Among the six major commercial airports in the most populous state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), Paderborn/Lippstadt is the smallest. According to industry association ADV, the airport handled 711,000 passengers last year, a 13% decrease from the previous year (818,000), compared to just 93,000 in 2020 when the pandemic broke out.

The primary airport in NRW is Düsseldorf, which served 21 million passengers in 2025, followed by Cologne-Bonn (10.1 million), Dortmund (3.2 million), Weeze (2.2 million), and Münster/Osnabrück (1.3 million).

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