Munich Airport - Articles and news items

FMG experts to support development of two airports in Oman

Airport news / 20 July 2010 / Munich Airport

The consulting team of FMG, the Munich Airport operating company, has been awarded a large, new contract for the commissioning, relocation and operation of airports. Under the contract, which has a total volume in the double-digit mil-lions, the FMG experts will be busy for four and a half years at two airports in the Sultinate of Oman.

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416 million passengers and 5.7 million flights in 18 years

Airport news / 14 May 2010 / Munich Airport

May 17th of this year will mark the 18th anniversary of the start of operations at the new Munich Airport. The “coming-of-age” celebration is the latest highlight in a long success story that has seen this airport advance to take its place alongside Europe’s major air transportation hubs. After seeing 12 million travelers in 1992, its first operating year, the new airport handled nearly 33 million passengers in 2009 – almost three times as many. Since May 17, 1992, Munich Airport has counted approximately 416 million passengers, 5.7 million take-offs and landings and more than 2.5 million tons of airfreight.

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Munich once again takes title as “Europe’s Best Airport”

Airport news / 25 March 2010 / Munich Airport

Munich Airport has once again won the voting as Europe’s best airport at the World Airport Awards 2010 – a title won by Munich four years in a row from 2005 to 2008. At the same time, Munich Airport moved up in the rankings of the world’s best airports from fifth to fourth. This was the outcome of the latest survey by Skytrax, a London-based independent aviation research institute, with more than nine million respondents worldwide. Dr Michael Kerkloh, the CEO of Munich Airport, accepted the latest honor at an awards ceremony in Brussels on the occasion of the international Passenger Terminal Expo.

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Munich Airport’s environmental strategy

Issue 6 2008, Past issues / 3 December 2008 / Matthias Linde, Project Manager for Sustainability at Munich Airport

Ecological sustainability has traditionally been a key element in Munich Airport’s environmental strategy and policy, and will become increasingly important in the future as the airport continues to pursue initiatives, not only in the form of innovative environmental projects.

More than 60% of Munich’s 1550 hectares are green areas, and FMG, the Munich Airport operating company, has purchased and set aside further tracts of woodland and wetlands in the immediate airport region as conservation areas, to compensate for the areas paved over when the airport was built. In the 1990s, Munich Airport became the first airport worldwide with a hydrogen fuelling station for apron buses and other vehicles. The pilot research project, funded by the State of Bavaria, was successfully completed in late 2006.

In 2005 Munich Airport received environmental certification under EMAS (Eco Management and Audit Scheme) and DIN ISO 14001, which demonstrates Munich Airport’s relentless commitment to go above and beyond environmental regulations, set at the EU and national level, mandating environmental protection standards at airports. The focus is now on establishing new and streamlining existing sustainability measures at Munich Airport in line with certification standards. Certification under the ISO 14001 and EMAS standards was successfully renewed this year and remains a key element in FMG’s environmental strategy. (more…)

‘Well Handled’ – An interview with Dr. Michael Kerkloh, CEO, Munich Airport

Issue 3 2007, Past issues / 7 June 2007 / Dr. Michael Kerkloh, CEO, Munich Airport

We spoke with Dr. Michael Kerkloh, CEO, Munich Airport about the ground handling operation at Munich International Airport. (more…)

Facilitating growth

Issue 1 2007, Past issues / 6 February 2007 / Michael Zaddach, Vice President for IT and Communication Systems, Flughafen München GmbH

Munich Airport’s impressive, recent growth shows no sign of slowing. Over 30 million passengers were recorded in 2006, the first time that the airport has broken the barrier in a single operating year, and expansion plans are already in place to accommodate future demand. However, as Michael Zaddach explains, success can’t be achieved or sustained through construction alone. IT underpins Munich’s growth, invisibly smoothing operations and the processing of ever greater numbers of passengers and volumes of baggage.

Just days before Christmas 2006, Munich Airport welcomed its 30 millionth passenger for the year, cementing its claim to a permanent spot among Europe’s major air transport hubs. This milestone marked the start of the latest chapter in Munich Airport’s success story, which saw its most recent high point with the opening of Terminal 2 in 2003. Airport planners are already at work on new infrastructure projects, responding to the unabated growth in passenger numbers, take-offs and landings, and cargo volume at Munich Airport. In 2007, construction will start on a new freight facility, and an additional hotel is in the planning stage. (more…)

Non stop service

Issue 1 2006, Past issues / 17 March 2006 / Wolfgang Hammerstädt, Executive Vice President of the newly re-organised Business Division Ground Handling, Munich Airport

For more than 80 years, the ground handlers at Flughafen München GmbH (FMG) have been ensuring that their customers are on ‘solid ground’ when it comes to aircraft handling. Wolfgang Hammerstädt shares the secrets of their success.

Ground handling at Munich Airport is driven by the mission to provide: ‘Outstanding quality, a viable price / performance ratio and the ability to adapt flexibly to our customers’ needs.’ It’s our belief at Munich Airport that these seemingly disparate elements DO all fit together under one roof, perhaps one reason why the world’s most successful airlines have valued Munich Airport’s ground handling services for decades.

Ground Handling at Munich Airport acts as a ‘full handler.’ In cooperation with partners, it operates in several segments: aircraft handling, transport services, baggage handling, passenger handling and operations, aircraft cleaning and cargo handling. Its services thus range from securing aircraft after touchdown and crew transport to the handling of express goods. Depending on their individual requirements, airline customers can pick different product modules, resulting in a product that is tailored specifically to their needs. (more…)

Winter optimisation

Issue 4 2005, Past issues / 25 November 2005 / Thomas Torsten-Meyer and Henning Pfisterer, Vice President Airport Operations and Duty Officer, Manager of Airport Safety, Munich Airport

Controlling ice and snow in major hub operations is an increasingly challenging task. In this article, Munich Airport reveals what it takes to remain open through the winter months.

A single runway closure of 30 minutes can easily build up to average delays of 2-3 hours with a traffic density on the scale of 70-90 movements per hour. Subsequently, if ATC doesn´t imposing pre-tactical flow control measures, the holding stock capacity of major airports can easily be exceeded when snow clearance requires a sudden runway closure during peak hours.

After completion of the runway clearance, delays can be further exacerbated by bottlenecks in remote aircraft de-icing areas. Crew duty hour limitations on long-haul services might also result in cancellations, even if the initial weather-induced delay was only minor.

Another consideration is that an initial departure delay is exacerbated if the aircraft cannot keep its slot. This situation may even worsen if the destination airport is also subject to weather-related closures and delays. Night flight restrictions, which are a very present concern here in Germany, also limit the capability to absorb delays, causing backlogs in scheduling the following day. (more…)