Editing Essen (section)

=== Aviation ===
[[File:Luftbild Flughafen Essen-Mülheim.JPG|thumb|[[Essen/Mülheim Airport]]]]
Together with the neighbouring city of [[Mülheim|Mülheim an der Ruhr]] and the state of [[North Rhine-Westphalia]], Essen maintains [[Essen/Mülheim Airport]] ([[IATA airport code|IATA]]: ESS, [[ICAO airport code|ICAO]]: EDLE). While the first flights had already arrived in 1919, it was officially opened on 25 August 1925. Significantly expanded in 1935, Essen/Mülheim became the central airport of the Ruhr area until the end of the [[Second World War]], providing an [[Asphalt concrete|asphalt]]ed runway of {{convert|1553|m|ft|0}}, another unsurfaced runway for [[gliding]] and destinations to most major European cities. It was heavily damaged during the war, yet partly reconstructed and used by the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] as a secondary airport since visibility is less often [[fog|obscured]] than at [[Düsseldorf Airport]]. The latter then developed into the large civil airport that it is now, while Essen/Mülheim now mainly serves occasional air traffic (some 33,000 passengers each year),<ref>According to ''RVV-Verkehrsstatistik 2007'' (''RVV'' Traffic Statistics 2007).</ref> the base of a fleet of [[airships]] and Germany's oldest public [[flight training]] company. Residents of the region around Essen typically use [[Düsseldorf Airport]] (about 20 driving minutes) and occasionally [[Dortmund Airport]] (about 30 driving minutes) for both domestic and international flights.