Hannover Airport

A great and unexpected experience. I paid a UK travel agent CubaDirect £70 for VIP arrival and transfer to Inglaterra Hotel (all my other arrangements were independent). The VIP went faster than I thought possible. Had to wait with the agent for some other passengers to emerge from the plane and then was taken to the VIP lounge and offered a drink. After a few minutes and before I could start the drink another English speaking agent who had collected my luggage escorted me through the Diplomatic immigration desk through customs x ray to landside where I was met by a third agent who looked after my luggage while the second agent took me at my request to change money. With money changed a car was immediately ready for the transfer. By any measure this was an expensive service and there are ways of getting it cheaper but I felt it was worth it. For the return I arrived at the airport I arrived at 4.45 pm. No queue for Virgin Upper class and negligible queues for other classes. Only two ahead of me to pay departure tax and when I wanted to change CUCs into Euros I was given priority at another window and a good rate of exchange. The emigration and x ray lines were short and in little time I was in the VIP lounge. This lounge is simple by international standards with a limited range of drinks and little more than ham and cheese rolls and slices of cheese to eat - but the seating was comfortable enough and the air-conditioning was rather fierce which seems to be the norm for Cuba. There is no Wifi. This may not have been a normal day but I have never had and easier departure at any airport any where - not at all what I had been warned to expect.

Regularly fly from HAN mainly to the British Isles (using Terminal B). Enjoyable experience usually there is not much in terms of food/shopping post security but plenty of seating and lots of daylight through the big windows allowing to watch aircraft movements. There is a McDonalds and supermarket also within the airport as well as excellent Movenpick bar and restaurant all I need!

Nice small airport. Strongly recommended if you do not like big crowded airports. Clean short queuing times and friendly staff.

Mid-size airport easy to navigate with everything at short distance. A mere 2 minutes from the plane to the baggage carousel (terminal A) a short 10 minute wait for baggage to arrive. 2 minutes walk to the public transport station with 2 trains per hour going to Hannover central station and onwards. On departure from HAJ: check-in kiosks with 3 minute wait for LH-baggage drop friendly security check - very nice experience.

12 km from the city center of Hannover you can get there by local train in 15 minutes. Lufthansa offers fast check-in in Terminal A. Shopping is basic (duty free after security point) some shops at the public Airport Plaza good food options. If you're fan of aviation than visit "Welt der Luftfahrt" on the top of the building between Terminal A & B - exhibition and observation deck and even A320 flight simulator. Very efficient service both security and baggage. A great airport from which to depart and to arrive.

It is built very logically there are 3 main terminals ABC Terminal A mainly being a hub for Lufthansa and KLM/Air France and B and C a hub for small airlines (Air BerlinTui Fly etc...) There is a short term parking lot right in front of the airport where you can park up to 30 mins walking distance 1mi! Between Terminal A and B there is a shopping plaza with a small supermarket and a newspaper shop sunglass shop and some other stores. When you enter the airport the terminals are arranged like a circle where you can "walk"in. Very special about Hannover airport that every 3 gates share one screening point so you cannot go from gate 1 to gate 7 but you can go from gate 3 to 6. There is a nice Lufthansa lounge. The time for the airplane to get from the runway to the gate is about 5min if you leave the aircraft you go a few stairs down to a passport control (about 2 min) then you grab you baggage which is sometimes already there (5min) then you just leave the airport one level under the departure floor you can take an elevator up to the departure level or just leave the airport and go to a parking lot the railway station or to a car rental service.

Great advantage is that it has more capacity than currently being used so the airport is hardly ever crowded. Improvements should be made with the restrooms in terminals A and B. Information for non-German speaking passengers especially in regards to the suburban train connections needs to be improved too (but that's a task for Deutsche Bahn). Beyond security food offer is dim. However since the airport mainly serves destinations within two hours flight time I have no problem with that. Recently new additions (grocery store retail stores) have been made that have improved shopping (before going through security). Of course it cannot compete with international hubs but for an airport of its size just great. Especially connections with Hannover city center - easy to reach. Lounges are small but nice with views of apron.

Middle-sized 24 h operated airport which leaves nothing to be desired. Short ways from the car up to the gate good signage and adequate shopping opportunities. The lounges - Karl Jatho airport lounge and Lufthansa lounges - offer all a good view of the apron. The city train (S-Bahn) takes you fast to Hannover Hameln and even Paderborn. Also as an excursion destination Hannover airport is suited very well. Family events often take place and also on Sunday local residents can go shopping at the Plaza. Hannover airport is clean stress-free and offers a large number of nonstop services throughout Europe and to hubs like Frankfurt Munich and Paris.

I arrived with Lufthansa at Terminal A and was surprised how fast the baggage was on the belt - not more than five minutes after the Airbus A321 was docked at the airbridge. Hannover Airport is now smoking free smoking is only allowed outside the terminal. What I like most of this airport: the ways are quite short and well displayed. You can take a taxi to the city (20 Euro 20 minutes) or the S- Bahn (Metro) which departs from level -1 at Terminal C just follow the green "S" (200 Euro 15 minutes to Hannover Hauptbahnhof). Really nice modern trains which depart every 30 minutes. I left Hannover on TUIfly from Terminal C the newest of the four terminals which has a quite good Fast Food Restaurant "Cindy's Diner". A new highlight at the airport is the Shopping Plaza opened in September 2007 located at departure level between Terminal A and B. You find a really good mix of shops (clothes Hannover souvenirs Virgin store glasses and jewellery a well-equipped supermarket (Edeka) an aviators' shop Leonardo glass store and an excellent health and beauty retailers (dm- drogeriemarkt). The Plaza opens from Monday to Sunday till 9 pm. From the Shopping Plaza you can take an elevator to the observation deck. I can recommend as well the Mövenpick restaurant with delicious food a good buffet kindly staff and nice view of the apron. If you wish to watch some more planes go to the Raffael Bar between Terminals B and C. Hannover Airport is an absolutely clean well connected customer friendly and an efficient airport which I can really recommend.

Hannover Airport is a very user-friendly middle-sized airport. It offers a nice mixture of "classic" and low-cost carriers. Some terminals are being renovated at the moment so it should be even more nicer afterwards. It's easy to arrive and to depart very good transport to and from airport.