Copenhagen Kastrup Airport

Updated: October 2026 – For many German spotters, Copenhagen is the first big airport across the border – and one of the most rewarding. Copenhagen Kastrup Airport is less than a quarter of an hour by metro from downtown, connects Scandinavia with the rest of the world and brings a traffic mix you don’t get in Germany: SAS in three national registrations, Nordic turboprops, long-haul from the Gulf and Asia. On top of that comes a spotter spot with cult status in Denmark. This page shows you how Kastrup works and how to plan your visit.

A hundred years of aviation on Amager

Kastrup is one of the oldest commercial airports in Europe still in operation. On April 20, 1925, operations began on a grass runway in the east of the island of Amager, a few kilometers south of Copenhagen’s old town. The first terminal building was made of wood – so the leap was all the greater when the new terminal by the architect Vilhelm Lauritzen opened in 1939. The functional, bright building is still regarded as a classic of Danish modernism.

In World War II, the German Luftwaffe used the airport, and after 1945 the Royal Air Force took over at first. In the postwar period traffic grew rapidly, and in May 1960 a big new terminal was added – today’s Terminal 2. At the end of the 1990s, Terminal 3 followed with a train station directly beneath it. There was no longer room for the old Lauritzen terminal at its original location. Instead of demolishing it, the listed building was moved in one piece by 3.8 kilometers into the western part of the grounds in September 1999 – one of the most curious episodes in airport history.

Legally, the airport is run by the company Københavns Lufthavne A/S, which also operates the smaller Roskilde Airport. The Danish state had partly privatized it step by step from the 1990s, but agreed in 2024 to buy back the majority. The takeover was completed at the end of September 2025, and since then the state again holds the large majority of the shares. For you as a spotter, that changes little at the fence – but it shows how important Kastrup is for Denmark.

Three runways, two of them parallel

The runway system is quickly explained. Two parallel runways run from northeast to southwest: 04L/22R at 3,600 meters on the west side and 04R/22L at 3,300 meters further east, closer to the terminals and the Øresund. Crossing them lies 12/30 at 2,800 meters. The parallel runways carry most of the traffic, while the crosswind runway is mainly used in strong wind from the northwest or southeast.

For spotting practice, it matters that the two parallel runways usually have a clear division of labor. According to spotter guides, with operations on 22: landings are mainly on 22L, takeoffs on 22R. With operations on 04 this reverses – 04L is then the main landing runway, and most takeoffs go via 04R. That is a rule of thumb, not a fixed rule; depending on the traffic situation, air traffic control deviates from it.

Which configuration is currently active is revealed by a look at a flight tracker: if approaches come from the northeast over the water, operations are on 22. If they come from the southwest over the fields near Tømmerup, 04 is active. How to use ADS-B data for this is explained in the post Flight tracking with ADS-B, and the basics on wind and runway choice are under Understanding runway direction at airports.

One terminal complex, six piers

If you arrive for the first time, you may be puzzled by the numbering: there is a Terminal 2 and a Terminal 3, but no Terminal 1 anymore. The old domestic terminal was closed in March 2015, and since then all departures run through the two other buildings. Terminals 2 and 3 are basically a single complex with separate check-in halls and a shared area behind security from which piers A to F branch off.

Pier F began in 2010 as CPH Go, a deliberately simple area for low-cost airlines with short walking distances and quick turnarounds. Pier E has been growing in sections since 2019 and is part of the expansion with which Copenhagen aims to bring capacity to around 40 million passengers a year. There is no large-scale new building for that – the airport grows step by step on the existing buildings.

For spotters, this is mainly interesting as a passenger: behind security you have a clear view of the apron at many gates, especially at the piers with long-haul positions. As far as we know, Kastrup does not operate a public observation deck for guests without a boarding pass.

SAS and the rest of the North

Copenhagen is the most important of the three hubs of SAS – alongside Stockholm Arlanda and Oslo. The Scandinavian airline shapes the picture at the fence with A320 family jets such as the Airbus A320neo, and on long-haul with the Airbus A350-900 and the A330-300. Add regional jets and turboprops that SAS has operated by partners in part.

Exciting for collectors: SAS aircraft carry registrations from several countries. OY- stands for Denmark, SE- for Sweden, LN- for Norway. Anyone who only notes type and airline in Copenhagen quickly loses track – the registration makes every sighting unambiguous. What lies behind the prefixes is explained in the post Aircraft nationality marks.

A big change happened only recently. On September 1, 2024, SAS switched from the Star Alliance, of which it was a founding member, to SkyTeam. The trigger was the entry of Air France-KLM as part of the restructuring. In Copenhagen you feel this in the partners: Air France, KLM and Delta are now SAS’s closest allies. How the three alliances differ is shown in the overview Star Alliance, oneworld and SkyTeam.

Who else lands at Kastrup

Besides SAS, Norwegian and Ryanair, among others, have bases in Copenhagen, so you see the Boeing 737-800 and its MAX successors correspondingly often. Air Greenland uses Copenhagen as its gateway to Europe, and Finnair links the city with its hub in Helsinki. The Greenland connection in particular is a favorite of the scene: the red widebody jet stands out immediately among the many white fuselages. Add turboprops in domestic and regional traffic, and Widerøe also flies over from Norway; types like the ATR 72-600 are part of everyday life at Kastrup.

On long-haul, Gulf airlines such as Emirates, Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways connect Copenhagen with their hubs, joined by Singapore Airlines and connections to North America, for example with Air Canada. Emirates brought the first scheduled Airbus A380 to Copenhagen in December 2015. Which type flies on which route today changes with the schedule – check it shortly beforehand on the arrivals board or in a flight tracker.

The big European network airlines also fly to their hubs, including Lufthansa, KLM and British Airways. According to airport statistics, London was the busiest destination from Copenhagen in 2024, followed by Oslo, Stockholm and Amsterdam. Cargo comes in the bellies of passenger jets and with dedicated freighters, among others from FedEx Express and Emirates SkyCargo.

The Flyvergrillen: spotting with a burger

Copenhagen doesn’t have a visitors’ hill like Munich – but it has something that exists only here. At the end of Amager Landevej on the west side, a grill bar has stood right at the airport fence since 1972. Over the years, a small kiosk became the meeting point of the Danish spotter scene, also called Lufthavnsgrillen in Danish.

From the terrace and the elevated standing area, you look over the fence without a ladder at 04L/22R and the taxiway in front of it. With operations on 22, departing aircraft start their roll right in front of you; with operations on 04, landings come in on 04L and then taxi past close to the fence. Landings on 22L you only see from here at a great distance. You have the best light from late morning to evening; in the morning you shoot into the light.

For taxi traffic, short to medium focal lengths are enough; for takeoffs on 22R, a telephoto zoom up to about 300 millimeters is worthwhile. On warm days the air above the two wide asphalt areas shimmers strongly – pictures of the distant parallel runway then work better in the evening. What exactly you see, how to get there without a car and which alternative spots there are is covered in detail in the spot guide to the Flyvergrillen at Copenhagen Airport.

The alternative spots around the fence

Because the Flyvergrillen mainly covers the western parallel runway, a second location is worthwhile. Via Tømmerupvej you reach the southwestern end of 04L and, with landings on 04, stand under the final approach. On the terminal side there are long-term parking lots near the final approach to 22L – there you get the landings that you only see from afar at the grill. On the southeast side, near Store Magleby, a path leads to the fence of 04R/22L with a view of the line-up and takeoffs from 04R; there you need a small step stool.

At all of these spots there is no infrastructure, little parking and sometimes private property in the immediate vicinity. Some previously known places have disappeared from spotter guides because of trouble with residents. Stick to public paths, don’t park in driveways and never lean the step stool against the fence.

Getting there: metro, train and bridge

Hardly any major airport is as closely tied to the city as Kastrup. Metro line M2 runs from Lufthavnen station at Terminal 3 to downtown in about a quarter of an hour. In the station under the terminal, regional and long-distance trains of the Øresund line also stop – in one direction to Copenhagen Central Station, in the other across the Øresund Bridge to Malmö and on to southern Sweden. By car you reach the airport via the E20 motorway.

For German spotters, Copenhagen is also easy to reach overland. Anyone who is passing through Hamburg anyway can make a stopover at the Affenfelsen. And because the Øresund Bridge begins right at the airport, a spotting day at Kastrup is easily combined with a side trip to Sweden.

Copenhagen in Nordic comparison

Kastrup is the largest airport in the Nordic countries, and that is exactly what makes it interesting for spotters: traffic from Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands converges here. The other hubs in the North each show their own facets – Oslo with lots of domestic traffic, Stockholm Arlanda as the second big SAS hub, Helsinki as the home of Finnair with a focus on Asia.

In format, Copenhagen is reminiscent of Amsterdam Schiphol: a network hub of a SkyTeam airline, surrounded by flat land, with spots at the fence instead of a big deck. Schiphol is considerably larger and has an officially established spot in the Spotterplaats at the Polderbaan. Kastrup is more compact and, with the Flyvergrillen, cozier. You’ll find more destinations for travel planning in the overview The best spotting spots in Europe.

For the packing list, the equipment checklist helps you, and if you’re brand new, the guide Plane spotting for beginners.

Conclusion

Copenhagen Kastrup Airport combines a hundred years of aviation history with a lively hub for the whole North. Three runways, a compact terminal complex with metro and train at the door and a traffic mix from SAS through low-cost to Gulf long-haul make it one of the most rewarding destinations you can reach from Germany.

There is no observation deck, but there is the Flyvergrillen – and for many that is the real reason for the trip. Anyone who checks runway direction and light beforehand stands there at the right time at the right runway and heads home with a logbook full of OY-, SE- and LN- registrations.