Get into a window seat and discover the city from above
Rotterdam Airport is small, but does small mean it is convenient, if not a lot more convenient than Schiphol, which is half an hour up the road?
There are no jet bridges, but four rows of plane parking spots on the airside tarmac. There are a couple of planes parked there, waiting to fly to sun destinations in the Med.
And then there’s the small jet that is going to take me to London. 6A is my window seat and this is the panorama of the city after take-off: The business class lounge was dingy, so much so that there’s only one larger community table and a few sofa chairs. Very limited food, some drinks and a broken coffee machine. There are a few bread rolls and some cheese, but the plates are dirty and I go back out and grab a sandwich at Starbucks. Well, at least there is a lounge and maybe it’s better on other days.
It’s easy to get here by taxi or bus, just a 15-minute ride from Rotterdam’s central train station. Once you are in the air, taking off to the north-east and backtracking to the west on the way to London, the theatre starts and the views emerge. I sat in seat 6A, on the left-hand side of the aircraft which turned out to be a great choice.
Take-off
Following a gentle, but long 180-degree turn, fields, houses, roundabouts and a lake come into view. Van Buijsen lake is a historic peat lake in the suburb of Pijnacker, roughly half-way between the cities of Rotterdam and Den Haag.
There’s a funky, new apartment building on the lake and both the road and canal networks are competing for space and are woven into each other.
History
The airport serves a densely populated area and is officially named Rotterdam The Hague airport. It’s the airport of the capital as well and used for state visits. Despite being very close to the historic city of Delft, that name didn’t make it into the official name.
In the 1950s and 1960s, the airport’s main operators were Channel Airways and British United Airways with routes to England. The passenger terminal dates back to 1967 and serves about 2 million passengers each year — a small number as far as capital airports in Europe go.
A proportion of those 2 million passengers travel to London, though the majority flies off to sun destinations in the med on charter and low-cost airlines.
Here’s a last view before the aircraft leaves the Netherlands and continues over the Channel:
Rhine and Maas
The body of water in the background in the photo above is the ‘Haringvliet’ which can carry a substantial throughput of water from the River Rhine.
The name Rhine disappears before the waters reach Rotterdam as the Maas and Rhine rivers intertwine and divert into several channels east of the city. This map illustrates this well:
Broekpolder is a nature reserve and recreation area with walking and cycling paths as well as bridleways and a golf club. But polders are not completely dry and in addition to canals there’s Bommeer lake with a small yacht club. Everything is part of Maasland, wet fields on the fringes of the city and within easy reach.
Practicalities
- Flight BA4555 left Rotterdam at 15:15 on a Friday in May 2026 on the way to London City Airport. The flight is operated by BA CityFlyer, a British Airways subsidiary, on a 106-seat Embraer 190 aircraft.
- Ticket prices vary-having booked several weeks in advance, I paid around £120 one-way.
- Northerly winds result in a takeoff on runway 06 to the northwest, followed by a U-turn. Any ‘A’ seat is a good choice, particularly in front of the wing. Have a look at the seatmap.
Conclusion
Rotterdam airport was a breeze, easy to get to and flying out of there provided me with great aerial views on departure. I can’t wait to go back to this little airport and discover more of the local landscape from a window seat in the skies over Rotterdam.