Eastern Airways operates on Monday and Friday a private service Norwich-Groningen vv flown with the Jetstream 41 or with their EMB145EP Regional Jet G-CCLD. The Jetstream 41 operated by Eastern is a 29-seat aircraft powered by two turboprops; their ERJ145 is a 48-seat turbofan aircraft. This ERJ145 G-CCLD was photographed by Jack Poelstra on February 16, 2004. The G-CCLD was registered as a EMB-145EP on 12/02/2004 with Air Kilroe Ltd., trading as Eastern Airways. This 1999 built Regional Jet was operated before as SE-DZC by Skyways in Sweden.

TC-ONP was photographed on its way from runway 23-01 to the terminal on 6 March 2001. McDonnell Douglas MD-88 TC-ONP was delivered to Onur on 30 May 1997. Onur Air operated the Groningen-Maastricht-Dalaman and the Groningen-Enschede-Antalya route both with the MD-88. On 17 June 2003, when operated on flight OHY2264, the TC-ONP overran the runway 23 during a rejected takeoff attempt. The MD-88 skidded about 50 meters beyond the runway threshold, impacting the runway lighting system as it slowed to a stop. After the TC-ONP was repaired it returned to Turkey on 29 November 2003.

On 21 June 2001, the Iberworld A320 EC-GZD was photographed on runway 24R/06L of Palma de Mallorca Aeropuerto "Son Sant Joan". Palma is the oldest holiday destination out of Groningen, first served in 1959 via Amsterdam by Tradair with the Vickers Viking. During the 2003 summer season three return flights were flown on Wednesday: Iberworld Groningen-Palma with the A320; Transavia Groningen-Maastricht-Palma with the Boeing 737-800 and DutchBird Groningen-Amsterdam-Palma with the A320.

General Enterprises b.v. at Groningen Airport Eelde is the agent for Europe and Africa for the aircraft manufacturer Cirrus Design Corp., Duluth, USA. The Cirrus Design SR20 is a four-seater aircraft, standard equipped with the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System. This safety system lowers the entire aircraft to the ground in extreme emergencies. SR20 N207CD was used as the European demonstrator for General Enterprises when photographed in May 2000. Next to the Cirrus Design SR20 and SR22 demo-aircraft, the SR20 N123AN (c/n 1379) of Avia Noord is based at Eelde airfield.

In 1997, Air Charters Eelde started their operations with a Cessna 210, a Piper PA-31-350 and a Beech 200. Beech 1900D D-CBSG was delivered on 25 September 1998 to ACE and registered as PH-ACY on 21 June 1999. ACE stopped their operations early 2001. The aircraft were sold. Beech 1900D PH-ACY was registered to Rossair Europe B.V., Lelystad, on 21 May 2001. The aircraft visited Eelde frequently as Rossair / TTA operated the Amsterdam-Groningen route with Beech 1900D. The AMS-GRQ route was flown 4 times a day till Rossair stopped with this service on 8 July 2002. The registration PH-ACY was cancelled on 22 February 2005 and the Beech 1900D was registered in South Africa as ZS-MKE.

The bulk of the holiday-flights out of Eelde is flown by Transavia. During the period 2000-2003 Transavia operated the Boeing 737-300; 737-800 and 757 on these flights. By the end of 2003 their fleet was standardised on the silent Boeing 737-7K2 en 737-8K2. The Boeing 737-3K2 PH-TSZ was leased from ILFC. It was registered on 17 May and arrived on delivery at Amsterdam-Schiphol on 18 May 1995. The registration PH-TSZ was cancelled on 10 October 2001. The Boeing operates in New Zealand as ZK-SJE with Freedom Air.

A number of times a year the Mil Mi-8 helicopters of the 2nd Arkhangelsk United Aviation Division used Eelde for a stop on their way from Archangels to Africa vv. The Federal State Unitary Enterprise "The 2nd Arkhangelsk UAD" is the oldest air company in the North of Russia. Its history goes back to 1935 when it offered services for the first time and since that it is still the main-cargo carrier in the region. On 13 February 2002, Mil Mi-8MTV-1 RA-25455 came in from Malmö under flight number OAO9101. On 14 February 2002, Jack Poelstra photographed the helicopter when it departed to Charleroi in Belgium.

Ryanair operated from 01/05/2003 - 28/04/2004 a daily regular service Groningen-London Stansted flown with the BAe 146, Boeing 737-300 and 737-800. The BAe HS146 was operated on this service until January 2004. BAe 146 G-UKAG entered service with Ryanair in April 2003. The G-UKAG was flown first as G-6-162 on 12 November 1990. The BAe 146 was registered G-UKAG on 28 November 1990. Low cost carrier Buzz was taken over from the KLM early 2003 including 6 BAe 146 and 6 Boeing 737-300. As part of the transaction KLM agreed tot take back all of the remaining BAe 146 aircraft in 2004. As part of this deal the G-UKAG returned on 27/01/2004 from the Ryanair subsidiary BUZZ Stansted Ltd. to KLM UK Ltd.

Quick Airways bv was one of the older Eelde based companies. They operated charter, training, business and ambulance flights. Quick Airways was the successor of Fast Airways Holland bv and started its operations in 1984. As Fast Airways did, they flew the regular service Groningen-Rotterdam, first with leased aircraft. Their first aircraft, PA-31-350 Chieftain PH-PTC (ex: G-CLAN; N27549), was registered on 17 May 1984. The 1981-built Mitsubishi Mu-2B-60 Marquise PH-BOA (ex. N888FS, N976MA, N612CC, N413MA) was registered with Quick Airways bv on 16 June 1993. The Mitsubishi Mu-2B-60 is a high-wing seven-seat twin-engine business and utility aircraft. Early 2007, Quick Airways ended its activities. After Mitsubishi Mu-2B-60 Marquise PH-BOA was sold in the USA, the registration was cancelled on 4 January 2008.

The 1949-built North American F-86A-5-NA Sabre G-SABR (ex. N68388, N178) of the Golden Apple Operations Ltd. was one of the highlights at the Airshow Eelde 2005 on 27 August 2005. This fighter-jet, powered by a General Electric Co J-47-13 engine, flew a nice performance together with another classic jet, Golden Apple's T-bird, the Lockheed CT-33AN Silver Star G-TBRD "21261/261". At the Airshow Eelde 2005 the North American F-86A was painted in the U.S. Air Force FU-178 serial 8178 (48-0178) colours. The Airshow Eelde 2005 was closed with an air show presented by the Breitling Jet Team with six Aero L-36C Albatross jet training aircrafts.

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