A few words about Düsseldorf's runway situation:
I definitely agree that Düsseldorf has not "the longest" runway. Combined with poor conditions (as they often exist), it can definitely become a problem for a large jet if the crew reacts a few moments too late or if the warning is not coming in time (I am not the one to judge this as I am not a professional pilot).
Still this is amongst the reasons why Düsseldorf is not approached by more large jets. The Atlas Air 747 is quite unique. I haven't ever seen any other 747 apart from what I suppose to be this particular flight in all the time. In the past of course, it was regularly approached. My parents flew with a Condor 747 in the late 70s/80s. From Dus. These days are over.
Regularly the largest jets taking off from Dus are A330s and perhaps sometimes an A340 (cannot remember now). 757 and 767 were operated by American carriers a few years back.
As it looks now, the airport won't even get the chance to prepare for the A380. Frankfurt is not too far away (in your terms) and the runway is simply too short. The passenger numbers would definitely be allright. The airport could take more and larger jets too because of the nearby Ruhrgebiet. It is the third largest airport in Germany concerning passenger numbers. So I suppose the economic side is not the problem.
These credits go rather to the residents in the surrounding town boroughs and the scattered villages.
Afaik they are very good at it. The near airport has ensured that the squaremetre prices were not that high, so many people bought the land some years ago and built their little tiny houses on it (especially in those villages). After they moved in... what a surprise... they realized actually jets are landing there, which ensures a certain level of noise. And of course no one knew in advance of this...
So now we got a ****load of citizen organisations protesting against whatever plan the airport takes to increase the runway length. Of course the forest of Kalkum has to be an area of nature which has to be saved aswell. Would have to be cut down, which poses another problem.
In the end Düsseldorf might lose its importance and probably a lot of jobs with it, if nothing is achieved concerning the runway length. If I remember correctly this thing is still keeping a few courts busy. Involved are the state North-Rhine-Westfalia, the town, the airport, the citizens (which are the main problem) and of course the activists who are so keen on preserving nature.
So much about it if you want to swear (again?) when approaching the "short" runway in bad weather.
Oh and perhaps shortly offtopic a hint after reading el cabellero rojo's post indicating he has approached Dus. Please do not comment on it (or if you wish to, do it via PN).
To those of you who approach Düsseldorf: Watch out when coming in via Echo when it is glider season (end of March till end of October) and VFR conditions. Depending on the day your reaction time might be a few seconds better than the glider pilot's despite the aircraft size. Drinking and sleeping regulations are definitely taken lax and they like to take it up to the given limit (altitude). As far as I heard there has been (at least) one possible near miss in the past with an airline pilot complaining officially later.