Airparks in Europe: where you can live with your aircraft
A residential airpark is a fly-in community where your home and your hangar sit on the airfield. Europe has only a few. This guide lists real examples by country and explains what to check before you buy.
Guide by Dutch Houses, hangar house designers at Drachten Airport
Residential airparks and fly-in communities in Europe
These are places where people live next to a runway and keep an aircraft at home. Every entry is checked against a public source. Ask each airpark for current plots, prices and rules.
| Country | Airpark | Location | In one line |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sweden | Siljan Airpark | Siljansnäs, Dalarna | Established in 2006 next to Siljansnäs airfield, with homes and hangars on private plots and its own homeowners association. |
| Germany | Müritz Airpark (EDAX) | Rechlin-Lärz, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern | A former military airfield open to general aviation, with a fly-in village of private homes and hangars on the site. |
| France | Aero Delahaye | Verchocq, Pas-de-Calais | A private airfield with an aviation village where residents keep their aircraft on the ground floor of the home. |
| France | Vendée Air Park | Talmont-Saint-Hilaire, Vendée | One of the first aviation villages in France, with homes on a paved and a turf runway. |
| Netherlands | Drachten Airport (EHDR) | Drachten, Friesland | Planned: 38 hangar house lots developed by Dutch Houses. Permits and building are separate next steps. |
Sources: Flying Magazine (June 2022), Nordkurier (June 2026), Mecklenburgische Seenplatte tourism board, Paris Zigzag, Dutch Houses. A place on this list is not a lot for sale. Check availability with the airpark.
What a residential airpark is, and how Europe differs from the US
A residential airpark is a neighborhood built around a runway. Each home has its own hangar, or the hangar is part of the home, and a taxiway connects the lot to the runway. You walk from the kitchen to the aircraft, open the door and taxi out. Most airparks are private and are run by the owners together, often through a homeowners association.
The model is most common in the United States. The Living With Your Plane directory passed 700 airparks in 2024, according to General Aviation News, and most of them are in the US. In Europe the number is small. Land next to a runway is scarce, and local planning rules decide whether homes may be built on or next to an aerodrome. That is why a fly-in community in Europe is usually a single village at one airfield, not a choice of dozens.
Where you find airparks in Europe
France has the most examples we could confirm. In French they are called village aéronautique or aéro-village; in German Fliegerdorf or Wohnen am Flugplatz. Sweden has Siljan Airpark in Dalarna. New projects start when an airfield owner looks for extra income and a municipality agrees to a plan, as at Drachten Airport in the Netherlands.
What to check before you buy at an airfield
- The rules. Read the zoning or local plan, the airfield rules and any owners association rules. They decide what you may build, how high, and whether you may live there all year.
- Access to the runway. Your lot needs a legal right to use the taxiway and the runway, written down. Check the runway length and surface against your aircraft, and who pays for maintenance.
- Noise and neighbors. Ask about flying hours, limits on movements and complaints from nearby residents. They affect both your flying and the value of the home.
- Leasehold or freehold. At some airfields you own the land; at others you lease it for a fixed term. At Drachten the lots are leasehold. Read what happens when the lease ends.
- Shared costs. Owners often share the cost of the runway, taxiways, fences and gates. Ask for the budget and the reserves.
- The future of the airfield. Who owns it, how it earns money, and what the municipality plans for it. A home at an airfield is only as good as the airfield.
Where a hangar house fits in
At an airpark the hangar and the home share one plot. Dutch Houses designs them as one building: the hangar on the ground floor, the home above it on a clear-span floor. That gives you a smaller footprint than a house next to a separate hangar, which matters on the small lots that most European airfields can offer.
A new fly-in community in Friesland
Dutch Houses develops 38 hangar house lots at Drachten Airport in the north of the Netherlands: 31 hangar houses plus 7 optional ones. Lots range from 700 to 2,000 m² and are leasehold.
The municipal council gave green light for the further development of the airfield on 14 November 2023. Permits and the final project agreements are the next steps.
Talk to the people who design hangar houses.
Before you buy land, plans or steel, spend one hour with Dutch Houses. You talk to a pilot who develops hangar houses, and you get straight answers about your aircraft, your lot and your budget.
- 01FitWhich model fits your aircraft: wingspan, tail height, door and taxi room.
- 02SiteWhat to check first with your airpark, HOA, county or municipality.
- 03CostA realistic cost path: preview design, final design, shell and turnkey.
- 04BuildHow a local builder builds a Dutch hangar house with our drawings and materials.
60 min
- Length
- 60 minutes
- Where
- Video or phone
- Language
- English, Dutch or German
- With
- Sjoerd-Jan van Klaarbergen, pilot
You choose a time that suits you. We confirm by email.
Hangar house designs for European airparks
Five models from helicopter to jet, each in four roof styles. Take a preview design to your airpark board or municipality before you buy a lot.
Piston
For single and light twin piston aircraft.
- Hangar width
- 56 ft / 17 m
- Hangar depth
- 49 ft / 15 m
- Clear door height
- 14.7 ft / 4.5 m
- Living space above
- 1,625 ft² / 151 m²
What does the expert call cost?
The call costs €149 for 60 minutes, by video or phone, with Sjoerd-Jan van Klaarbergen, pilot and CEO of Dutch Houses. We talk about your aircraft, the airfield you have in mind and the cost path.
What is a residential airpark?
A fly-in community where homes with private hangars sit along a taxiway that leads to a shared runway. Residents can taxi from home to the runway.
Are there residential airparks in Europe?
Yes, but only a few. Examples are Siljan Airpark in Sweden, Müritz Airpark in Germany, and Aero Delahaye and Vendée Air Park in France. A new hangar house project is planned at Drachten Airport in the Netherlands.
Why are there fewer airparks in Europe than in the US?
Land next to a runway is scarce, and local planning rules decide whether homes may be built at an aerodrome. In the US the Living With Your Plane directory lists more than 700 airparks.
Can I build a hangar house at my own airfield?
That depends on the local plan, the airfield rules and your access to the runway. In the expert call we go through what to check first.
Is the land at an airpark freehold or leasehold?
It differs per airfield. At Drachten Airport the lots are leasehold. Always read the terms and what happens at the end of the lease.
Tell us where you want to land.
Tell us which airpark or airfield you have in mind. Only your name and email are required.