Munich Airport keeps on soaring

Munich Airport experienced a very successful year in 2012. Despite the turbulent European economy, the airport was able to report a two per cent increase in total passenger numbers – 38.4 million passengers passed through Munich Airport over the year, an increase of 600,000 and an all-time high for the airport. This has helped cement it as an efficient and attractive international air transportation hub.

Airlines have continued with the trend of absorbing the rising global passenger demand by using larger aircraft on their routes and decreasing the number of flights offered. With the economic slump set to continue in 2013, it is likely that Munich Airport will not see any significant rise in traffic over the coming year, but the airport nevertheless has excellent long-term growth and development prospects.

For Munich Airport, 2012 was also a big anniversary year. Since its official opening on 17 May 1992, the airport has seen a 100 per cent increase in the number of flights handled annually, and passenger numbers have more than tripled. During that 20-year period, the number of travellers arriving or departing from Munich Airport has already topped the 500 million mark.

International passenger surveys show that the majority of passengers travelling through Munich Airport rate it highly. In the 2012 World Airport Awards, hosted by London-based aviation consultancy Skytrax, Munich Airport was voted Central Europe’s best airport, while the airport personnel were voted number one in Europe for their competence and friendliness.

Similarly, in the global rankings for 2012, Munich took the sixth spot in the Skytrax survey behind Seoul, Singapore, Hong Kong, Amsterdam and Beijing airports. This highlights that despite the rise in passenger traffic, Munich has obviously succeeded in maintaining its high service levels and quality standards, even when measured against the world’s best airports.

In the current winter flight timetable, which will remain in effect until the end of March 2013, airlines operating at Bavaria’s international hub have scheduled around 150,000 flights – travellers can choose from among 215 destinations in 65 countries, served by 99 different airlines. Scheduled services will be offered by 77 airlines flying to 185 destinations in 63 countries.

The launch of Terminal 2 in 2003 has helped Munich Airport to develop into one of Europe’s leading hubs. This terminal is jointly managed by airport operating company Flughafen München GmbH (FMG) and airline Lufthansa. The steady rise in the share of transit passengers in the overall numbers has, in turn, been a major contributing factor to Munich’s success in outperforming the average industry growth rate by a wide margin. However, to ensure that this growth can continue in the long-term, the airport needs to expand its passenger handling capacity as well as its runway system.

To achieve those goals, one of Munich Airport’s planned projects is the Terminal 2 satellite, for which we broke ground in April 2012. It will be Munich Airport’s third passenger handling facility. By building this facility, FMG and Lufthansa are taking an essential step to keep the airport’s hub operations on track for continued strong growth through the stationing of more wide-body jets for intercontinental flights. With the completion of the satellite, the handling capacity of Terminal 2 will be increased by 11 million passengers per year, which will enable the airport and Lufthansa to further boost the Terminal for handling connecting traffic and ensure that the quality standards remain high. The expansion of Terminal 2 is needed because its capacity of 25 million passengers per year is already stretched to the limit.

The design of the satellite facility applies sustainable construction concepts that will mean a 40 per cent improvement in the carbon footprint when compared with the two existing terminals. The corporate philosophy of the FMG Group states that business performance must always go hand-in-hand with conservation of resources, environmental protection and a commitment to human welfare and society.

In 2011, the Airport Council International Europe (ACI) – the umbrella organisation for European airports – published the latest results for the Airport Carbon Accreditation climate protection initiative. Munich Airport became the first German airport to gain Level 3 accreditation – the second-highest of the four possible certification levels. The certificate was renewed in 2012 in recognition of the successful con tinuation of the CO2 emission reduction measures at Munich Airport. It is granted to airports that take effective and sustainable action to reduce CO2 emissions and involve other partners at the airport – in particular airlines – in these efforts.

The second strategic expansion project at Munich Airport, the construction of a third runway, cannot be implemented at present because the required unanimous decision by the three shareholders is not possible. In a referendum held in Munich on 17 June 2012, a majority of those casting ballots voted for the city of Munich to oppose the expansion project. FMG itself and the majority shareholders, the state of Bavaria and the Federal Republic of Germany, still regard the third runway as indispensable. The airport expansion is of vital importance as a key infrastructure project to ensure the future competitiveness of the entire country.

In the meantime, the court review of the planning permission ruling issued by the District Government of Upper Bavaria in 2011 is moving forward. If the court upholds that ruling, then – after an eight-year planning and approval process and a court review – our plans would, so to speak, be ‘in the drawer’ and ready for implementation. The construction permit linked to the planning permission remains in effect for up to 15 years.

Thanks to Munich Airport’s successful development over the past two decades, it now has the opportunity to take a substantial share in the anticipated long-term growth, and thus to ensure that Munich and Bavaria can maintain their excellent links to the global air transport – ation network. As a result, the airport will also lay the foundation to secure existing jobs – and create new ones.

Traffic growth over the past 20 years has led to a 150 per cent increase in the workforce at Munich Airport; equating to more than 30,000 employees. If we count the induced employment outside the airport campus, the Bavarian hub is now responsible for securing more than 60,000 jobs in the greater Munich area, and over the next 20 years, tens of thousands of new jobs could be added at Munich Airport and in the surrounding region.

Biography

Dr Michael Kerkloh graduated with an economics degree in 1979 and until 1985 held a lectureship in economic policy at the University of Frankfurt, where he also com – pleted a doctorate in political science. His aviation career began in 1987, where he was put in charge of operational planning, organisational imple mentation and the oordination of aircraft handling at Frankfurt Airport.

In 1995, Dr Kerkloh became one of two Managing Directors at Hamburg Airport and he quickly gained a reputation as a highly competent aviation expert whose innovative concepts and strategic foresight stands for modern, competitive airport management. Dr Kerkloh is currently the CEO and President of Flughafen München GmbH (FMG), which operates Munich Airport – one of Europe’s most successful hubs – and also serves as the company’s Labour Director