Airport open days: apron access and photo opportunities

At the fence, a few hundred meters, a wire mesh and often heat shimmer separate you from the aircraft. At an airport open day it’s different: you walk across the apron, stand under a wing, look into an engine inlet and can count the rivets on the fuselage. Such days are rare, crowded and strictly regulated. But if you come well prepared, you take home pictures that otherwise only apron staff get to see. This guide explains who holds such days, how to find them, which rules apply on the grounds and how to get clean photos in a crowd.

What is an airport open day?

An open day is an event at which an airport, a maintenance company, a manufacturer or a military airfield opens parts of its otherwise closed-off grounds to the public. For spotters that means: you get, without a boarding pass or work ID, onto areas you otherwise see only from outside. There are usually aircraft on display (the so-called static display), vehicles of the airport fire service and winter service, views into hangars and workshops, and information booths. Whether there are displays in the air depends heavily on the organizer. At civilian airports, scheduled traffic generally continues alongside.

That sets the open day clearly apart from two related formats. An apron tour is a regularly bookable offering by bus in which you mostly stay in the vehicle. An airshow, by contrast, puts the flight program at the center. How to photograph there is explained in the guide Photographing airshows. At an open day it’s mostly about closeness on the ground.

Who opens their gates? The three types of organizers

Not every open day is the same. What you get to see and which rules apply depends mainly on who is inviting.

Organizer	Typical occasion	What you usually see	What to watch out for
Commercial airport	Anniversary, opening of new terminals or runways, neighborhood festival	Static display from airlines, fire service, apron vehicles, view of ongoing operations	heavy crowds, security check, sometimes ticket or time slot
Maintenance company or manufacturer	Company anniversary, family day, recruitment	Hangars, aircraft in maintenance, engines, workshops	frequent photo bans in workshops and for customer aircraft
Military airfield	Bundeswehr Open Day, anniversaries of units	Military aircraft and helicopters, displays, equipment	ID requirement, strict bag rules, closed zones

Commercial airports

Large civilian airports usually open their apron on special occasions: a round-number birthday, the opening of a new runway or terminal, or as a thank-you to the neighborhood. Because scheduled operations continue, the visitor area is often on a separated apron area or a maintenance site. The big advantage: besides the static display, you see completely ordinary handling from an unusual perspective. How gates and remote stands work is explained in the article Gates, jet bridges and remote stands.

Maintenance shops and manufacturers

For many spotters, maintenance shops are the most exciting hosts. In a maintenance hangar you see aircraft without cowlings, removed engines and cabins stripped to the bare structure. Large maintenance companies like Lufthansa Technik or manufacturers like Airbus occasionally invite people to family or visitor days. There are no fixed dates, and some events are aimed only at employees and their relatives. An overview of maintenance sites in Europe is given in the guide Maintenance companies and shipyards in Europe. What is possible at the Finkenwerder factory airfield even on normal days is covered in the guide Spotting at Airbus Finkenwerder.

At maintenance shops the photo rules are often stricter than on the apron. Aircraft in maintenance belong to customers, and some cabin furnishings or technology are confidential. Expect that photography is not allowed at all in individual halls.

Military airfields and the Bundeswehr Open Day

The best-known regular event in Germany is the Bundeswehr Open Day (Tag der Bundeswehr). It was first held on June 13, 2015, and since then has generally taken place on a Saturday in June at several locations that change every year. Air bases are included again and again. In earlier years, Neuburg an der Donau, Faßberg, Wunstorf, Holzdorf, Nordholz and Jagel, among others, opened their gates. In 2020 and 2021 the in-person event was canceled because of the pandemic, and in 2022 it took place at only a single location. The Bundeswehr announces in advance which locations are taking part in the coming year.

Military airfields have their own rules, above all for photography. What is generally allowed there is summarized in the article Photographing military airfields. If you later want to identify the aircraft cleanly, the guide to Registrations of Bundeswehr aircraft helps. If you want to combine an air base event with a museum visit, near Nordholz you will find the Aeronauticum, for example.

How to find dates

Open days are rare, and many take place only every few years. There are hardly any fixed calendars. To avoid missing any, it’s best to combine several sources:

• Organizers’ channels: Press sections, newsletters and social media accounts of airports, maintenance shops, manufacturers and the Bundeswehr are the most reliable source. Follow your home airport’s channels permanently, not only when you hear about an event.
• Keep an eye on anniversaries: Round-number birthdays of airports, airlines or units are the most common occasions. Anyone who knows when their airport opened can often anticipate such dates.
• Spotter clubs and forums: Local groups often hear about events early and know from experience where it’s best to position yourself.
• Local media: Regional newspapers announce big visitor days, often with notes on travel and parking.

Plan generously: some organizers require registration, assign time slots or allocate limited tickets. So sign up early as soon as a date is set.

Rules on the apron: what is allowed and what is not

Even on an open day an airport remains a security area. The operator exercises its house rules and decides what is allowed on its grounds. The specific rules are usually on the event page. You’ll run into these points almost everywhere:

• Entry check: Expect bag checks like before a flight. Knives, tools and other dangerous items stay outside. Large backpacks may be restricted, so you should come with light luggage.
• ID: Especially at military airfields and at maintenance shop events you must show ID. Always bring your ID card or passport.
• Barriers: Barrier tape, construction fences and marshals mark how far you may go. That applies even when the subject behind them is as tempting as can be.
• Touching and boarding: Don’t climb on landing gear, stairs or wings unless that is expressly allowed. Where you may enter the cockpit, separate rules often apply. More in the article Photos in the cockpit.
• Drones: Drone flights over airport and air base grounds are prohibited as a matter of principle, even on visitor days. Leave the drone at home.
• Ladders and tripods: In the crowd they are often unwelcome or prohibited. Whether you may bring a small step stool, you settle beforehand. Background is in the article Ladder, step and tripod at the airport fence.

That safety distances at aviation events in Germany are taken so seriously has a historical reason too. After the Ramstein airshow disaster of 1988, aerobatic displays were initially banned and later permitted again only under strict conditions, with minimum distances and no maneuvers over or toward the audience.

Photo opportunities: how to use the closeness

Being close to the aircraft is a gift. But it requires a different way of working than at the fence. Instead of the telephoto, what counts is position, timing and short focal lengths.

The first hour is yours

Right after entry, visitors only gradually spread out. If you are there at opening and head straight for the aircraft that matter most to you, you can still get them in the frame largely free of people. Later in the day, groups of visitors stand in front of every nose and under every wing. Then it’s time for details.

Focal length: short instead of long

On the apron you are often only a few meters from the aircraft. To fit a whole jet in the frame you need a wide-angle lens. A standard zoom covers most situations. What effect short focal lengths have is explained in the guide Wide-angle and normal lenses in spotting. You take the telephoto only if normal flight operations are going on alongside or a flight program is planned. The article The right lens for plane spotting helps with the choice.

Subjects that only work here

Light and position

Display aircraft stand fixed, the sun moves. So look beforehand at how the static display is oriented and plan which side gets light at what time. An aircraft that stands in backlight in the morning can be perfectly lit in the afternoon. In hangars, by contrast, you often have mixed light from hall lighting and daylight through the open door. A manual white balance or photos in raw format give you more leeway later.

Gear: light and well thought out

An open day is long, crowded and mostly on foot. Less is more here, also because of the entry check.

If there are also flying displays on the same day, the packing list looks different. Then the checklist for airshow day helps.

Common mistakes

• Arriving too late: Anyone who only turns up at noon sits in traffic, looks for parking and finds every aircraft surrounded by people. Getting there by public transport or shuttle bus is often the more relaxed choice.
• Heading out with only a telephoto: With a long focal length you get only sections on the apron. Whole aircraft need short focal lengths.
• Not reading the rules: Anyone who doesn’t know the event page ends up at the gate with the wrong backpack or without ID.
• Photographing only overall views: You’ve already shot the overall view of an A320 from the fence a hundred times. The details are what make open day pictures special.
• Not documenting the day: Note registrations and types right on site. Otherwise you won’t remember later which aircraft stood in which hangar.

Open day, apron tour or airshow?

Which format suits you? That depends on what you want to see and how flexible you are.

An overview of the year’s big events is offered by the guide Airshows in Europe for plane spotters.

Conclusion

Open days at airports, maintenance shops and air bases are among the rare chances to experience aircraft without a fence. Because dates are irregular, it’s worth following the organizers’ channels permanently. For the Bundeswehr Open Day, at least, you know it mostly takes place in June. The locations change every year, though. On site, good preparation and respect for the rules count: arrive early, pack light, use short focal lengths and follow the staff’s instructions. Then a crowded visitor day turns into a photo session you could never have had at the fence.