Cologne/Bonn Airport illustrates many of the strategic themes in European aviation

Cologne/Bonn ranks only among Germany's mid-sized airports. Its traffic suffered in the global financial crisis and did not recover its pre-crisis level until 2015. It is not a major hub and barely has a long haul network. Nevertheless, it provides much of interest to students of Europe's airline industry.

Cologne/Bonn is now one of Germany's fastest-growing airports, with this expansion stimulated by Europe's lowest cost airline, Ryanair. The Irish LCC chose Cologne/Bonn to launch its re-entry into the German domestic market in 2015. The airport is also the biggest base for the Lufthansa Group's low cost brands (whether Germanwings or Eurowings) and the first base for its low cost long haul operation (under the Eurowings brand). Meanwhile, long haul connections to Asia Pacific are increasing with the growth at Cologne/Bonn of super connector Turkish Airlines.

Size is most certainly not everything.