Low-cost budget airlines have cheap flights with low airfares on discounted tickets to Leipzig/Halle (LEJ) and Leipzig-Altenburg Airport (AOC) in Eastern Germany.

Leipzig/Halle Airport (LEJ) in Eastern Germany is conveniently located in between the two cities it is named after. The airport is popular with both regular and low-cost airlines with cheap flights available to many European capitals and popular Mediterranean holiday destinations.

Getting to Leipzig/Halle Airport is easy and fast. Ground transportation links are excellent not only to Leipzig and Halle an der Saale but also to other destinations in Saxony (Sachsen) and Saxony-Anhalt in Eastern Germany.

• Leipzig-Altenburg Airport (AOC) is far less conveniently located to the south of Leipzig in the federal state Thuringia (Thüringen). It is presently only used by Ryanair.

Cheap Flights from Leipzig/Halle Airport (LEJ) on Low-Cost Airlines

German low-cost airlines fly mainly from Leipzig/Halle Airport (LEJ) to Mediterranean holiday destinations including resort cities such as Agadir, Antalya, Arrecife, Corfu, Djerba, Faro, Fuerteventura, Funchal, Ibiza, Heraklion, Hurghada, Kos, Larnaca, Las Palmas, Luxor, Mahon, Monastir, Palma de Mallorca, Tenerife-South, and Thessaloniki. The number of flights and destinations are higher in the summer than in the winter season.

For foreign tourists traveling to Germany, the following domestic flights on German low-cost airlines from Leipzig/Halle (LEJ) may be of more practical use:

• airberlin flies to Nuremberg / Nürnberg (NUE);
• Germanwings flies to Cologne / Köln-Bonn (CGN); and
• TUIfly flies to Stuttgart (STR).

Flights from Leipzig/Halle Airport (LEJ) on Full-Service European Airlines

Leipzig/Halle Airport is still used far below capacity with the number of flights as well as destinations served by non-stop flights still rather limited.

Lufthansa is the largest full-service airline flying from Leipzig/Halle. Lufthansa has several flights per day to its three main German hubs – Frankfurt, Munich / München, and Düsseldorf – mostly to connect to its extensive worldwide network. These flights are mostly on Lufthansa’s regional or subsidiary partners such as Cirrus, Contact Air, Eurowings, and Lufthansa CityLine.

Other airlines flying from Leipzig/Halle Airport (LEJ) include:

• Air France (operated by Régional) flies to Paris-Charles de Gaulle;
• Air Malta flies to Malta; and
• Austrian Airlines (operated by Austrian Arrows) flies to Vienna via Dresden.

Many charter and holiday flights depart from Leipzig/Halle Airport with destinations in Turkey particularly well served.

Ground Transportation to Leipzig/Halle Airport (LEJ)

Getting toe Leipzig/Halle Airport (LEJ) is very easy by car or rail – aircrafts often actually taxi over both the railway line and autobahn.

• By Road

Leipzig/Halle Airport is close to the crossing of autobahns A9 and A14. For the airport, use exit 15 (Schkeuditz/Flughafen) from the A14. Driving time from central Leipzig is around 30 minutes and ten minutes more from central Halle.

The following car rental companies have counters at Leipzig/Halle Airport: Alamo / National, Avis, Budget, Europcar, Hertz, and Sixt. Car hire is best reserved in advance.

• By Rail

The Flughafen Express connects Leipzig/Halle Airport and Leipzig Hauptbahnhof (Main Station) twice per hour in 14 minutes. The Flughafen Express connects the airport and Halle/Saale Hauptbahnhof hourly in 12 minutes.

Inter-City trains and even the occasional Inter-City-Express (ICE) train halt directly at the airport too. The most useful connection is the hourly service to Magdeburg (taking just over an hour).

• Leipzig Hauptbahnhof has excellent connections to all parts of Germany.

Cheap Ryanair Flights from Leipzig-Altenburg Airport (AOC)

Leipzig-Halle Airport (LEJ) should not be confused with Leipzig-Altenburg Airport (AOC), a very small regional airport located more than an hour by bus (€12 one-way) to the south of Leipzig.

• Up to 2008, the airport was known as Altenburg-Nobitz. Previous attempts by small regional airports to include larger, distant cities in the name have had mixed results in Germany. After legal challenges Frankfurt-Hahn stuck but Weeze had to drop Düsseldorf.

Leipzig-Altenburg Airport (AOC) is only used by low-cost airline Ryanair for daily flights to London-Stansted and three flights per week to Barcelona-Girona. These are currently the only direct flights to London from the Leipzig region – the best alternatives are from Dresden or Berlin.

• Although Leipzig/Halle Airport is clearly very convenient for travelers to these two cities, the number of flights and destinations served remain limited. Germany has many alternative airports including Dresden, Berlin-Tegel, Berlin-Schönefeld, and for most intercontinental travelers Frankfurt International Airport.