The starting shot for Mönchengladbach Airport was given on April 22, 1956.

On that day, the new airfield on the Niers was officially opened with the acquisition of the authorization for powered flight. After one year, the airfield had already counted 13.000 flight movements, a considerable figure compared to the Corona year 2020 (48.856). “Today, the city cannot be imagined without the airport as an economic and innovation engine,” says MGL managing director Ulrich Schückhaus.

A flight school soon followed on the airfield, the Luftfahrerschule NRW, which continues to this day under the name RWL German Flight Academy and, as one of the largest flight schools in Germany, has already trained many commercial pilots. In 1958, the Rhein-Flugzeugbau company came to the site, initially specializing in the maintenance of military aircraft for the young Bundeswehr, but also launching its own aircraft research projects. Nowadays this area lies fallow because the company had to file for bankruptcy in the 1990s.

In the 1960s, "EDLN", the name used by the pilot, continued to develop with an average of over 30.000 flight movements per year. The front runner was 1975 with 88.000 take-offs and landings. All in all, the 1970s were a heyday in general aviation, before the scene of microlight aircraft, which are not permitted at the MGL, became more popular. During that time, the small, up-and-coming airfield repeatedly hosted renowned flight competitions such as the Deutschlandflug. 

An “excursion” into scheduled air traffic in the early 1980s on routes to Frankfurt, Eindhoven and Metz finally gave the Niers airfield in 1995 what is known as the instrument flight permit. This cleared the way for the establishment of a control zone with air traffic controllers in the control tower, which is still the linchpin for the successful and future-oriented further development of the airport.