History

1932 - 1939: Laying the foundations

1932: In the meantime, the aeroplane had gained so much ground that its former competitor, the airship, simply could no longer catch up. Aeroplanes dominated the scene in Fuhlsbüttel now, and in 1932 the Hamburg Airship Hangar Company (HLG) was renamed Hamburg Airport Administration Authority. With the renaming, the original corporate objective of promoting airship travel receded even farther into the background.

1930 - 1933: In the early 1930s, air travel was extremely hardly hit by the repercussions of the world economic crisis. In the space of three years, betwen 1930 and 1933, Fuhlsbüttel lost some 35% of its cargo traffic and about 10% of its passengers, while the number of scheduled flights fell from 5,756 to 3,819.

1934 – 1937: Fuhlsbüttel experienced a second boom period: increasing passenger traffic meant that the airport needed extending, and the appropriate application was submitted to the Ministry for Air Travel on 27th May 1935. The Ministry granted its permission on 12th July of that year.
In the first half of the 1930s, the night lighting in Fuhlsbüttel was constantly being improved and extended. The perimeter lighting was extended, obstacle warning lights were mounted on all larger buildings, and small floodlights were installed at the gate, so that the clearance platform could be brightly illuminated, enabling rapid clearance of passengers even at night. A huge searchlight rotated on the roof of the terminal building, sending out a powerful beam as an orientation beacon. The direction finding station, responsible for fixing the position of incoming aircraft, was moved and enlarged several times, while a short-wave beacon was set up on the runway to enable planes to land in poor visibility.
In 1937, the number of passengers was the second highest before the Second World War: 57,194. In order of importance, Hamburg was Germany's fourth largest airport after Berlin (which was still by far the busiest), Frankfurt and Cologne. Fuhlsbüttel had been transformed from the rural destination it was in the early twenties to a major traffic interchange.

Up to 1940: The City of Hamburg bought all the shares of the Hamburg Airport Administration Authority, thus documenting the importance that the airport now had for Hamburg itself, and indeed for the entire economic area around the city.

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