“Munich Airport II” celebrates its 30th anniversary

Photo: Flughafen München GmbH.
Photo: Flughafen München GmbH.

“Munich Airport II” celebrates its 30th anniversary

Photo: Flughafen München GmbH.
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The protest slogan "Riem has to go" has now almost been forgotten, because "Munich II Airport" has been online since May 17, 1992. The “new” airport is now more than 30 years old.

In the record year of 2019, Munich Airport recorded a total of almost 48 million passengers and around 417.000 take-offs and landings. The number of flight movements has thus more than doubled since the opening in 1992, while the number of passengers has almost quadrupled in the same period. The amount of air compartments has even increased sixfold.

The growth at Munich Airport was thus well above the average for German airports in terms of passenger numbers, flight movements and freight. The main reason for this disproportionate growth was the further development of the new airport into an important European hub in world air traffic.

The ongoing success story of Munich Airport was interrupted in March 2020 by the corona pandemic, the effects of which had a massive impact on all air traffic worldwide. Due to global travel restrictions, only 2020 million passengers used Munich Airport in 11,1, compared to 2021 million in 12,5. In the meantime, after the easing of many travel restrictions, a significant recovery has set in. During the Easter holidays of this year, the volume of traffic in Munich reached more than 70 percent of the pre-crisis level for the first time.

12 million passengers in 1992

When the airport opened at its new location in 1992, it handled twelve million passengers in its first year of operation. The construction of the airport was preceded by a lengthy search for a location, during which a total of 20 possible sites were examined. With the planning approval decision of July 1979, the government of Upper Bavaria created the legal basis for the construction of the new airport ten years after the location decision for the current airport area. However, the construction work, which began in November 1980, had to be interrupted again after a few months because the Bavarian Administrative Court imposed a construction freeze on the project in April 1981. It was only four years later - in March 1985 - that airport construction could be resumed on the basis of a judicially reduced plan.

The grand opening of the new airport was celebrated on May 11, 1992, six days before the actual opening, with 2.000 invited guests in the airport's largest maintenance hall. Accompanied by worldwide attention, the core move from Riem Airport to the new airport began on Saturday, May 16, in which around 5.000 people and almost 700 trucks were involved. The fact that there were no breakdowns during the relocation and commissioning and that the flight schedule at Munich Airport was processed just as punctually in the evening in Riem as it was the following morning at the new airport that had just opened ensured the highest level of recognition both at home and abroad. Flughafen München GmbH later used the reputation it had acquired in this way by successfully appearing worldwide as a consultant for airport relocations and commissioning in the years that followed.

Terminal 2 went online in 2000

The rapid rise of Munich Airport to become one of the leading European airports began in the mid-90s with the stationing of the first two Lufthansa long-haul aircraft. As strategic growth partners, Munich Airport and Lufthansa joined forces by agreeing in 1998 to jointly build, finance and operate Terminal 2 at Munich Airport – a cooperation between the airport and the airline that is unique in international aviation.

Even before the foundation stone for Terminal 2 was laid in April 2000, another major expansion project at Munich Airport was completed on time. With the Munich Airport Center (MAC), which opened in September 1999, the airport gained a highly modern, multifunctional service center. Today, the MAC, with its spectacular glass membrane roof and the large forum area underneath, is not only an architectural highlight, but also the natural center and marketplace of Munich Airport.

The opening of Terminal 2 in June 2003 gave Munich Airport the urgently needed increase in capacity in the area of ​​passenger handling. The terminal, which is used exclusively by Lufthansa and its partners and was geared to the specific requirements of transfer traffic from the very first planning phase, quickly scored with its users thanks to its diverse range of retail and gastronomy offerings, attractive rest areas and work opportunities, as well as a wide range of service facilities.

Midfield terminal operational since 2016

With the construction of the first midfield terminal at a German airport, Flughafen München GmbH, together with Deutsche Lufthansa AG, ensured the next important expansion step. The underground satellite building connected to Terminal 2 and designed for eleven million passengers, which went into operation in April 2016, increases the passenger capacity of Munich Airport to around 50 million. Three years later, in April 2019, the first construction work for the new pier at Terminal 1 began. This modernization and expansion of the non-Schengen area is intended to significantly increase the quality of service and stay in Terminal 1.

Two other construction projects that are not directly related to flight operations were launched in 2018: In March, the official starting signal for the LabCampus in the north-west of the airport was given: a cross-company and cross-industry innovation center on the airport campus. LAB 48, the first building on the LabCampus, is now nearing completion. In order to further develop the rail connection to Munich Airport, the expansion of the rail tunnel at Munich Airport began in September 2018. The tunnel extension, the shell of which was completed in September 2021, will enable S-Bahn and trains to pass through the airport in the future as part of the Erding ring circuit.

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Editor of this article:

Amely Mizzi is Executive Assistant at Aviation Direct Malta in San Pawl il-Baħar. She previously worked in the Aircraft and Vessel Financing division at a banking group. She is considered a linguistic talent and speaks seven languages ​​fluently. She prefers to spend her free time in Austria on the ski slopes and in summer on Mediterranean beaches, practically on her doorstep in Gozo.
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Amely Mizzi is Executive Assistant at Aviation Direct Malta in San Pawl il-Baħar. She previously worked in the Aircraft and Vessel Financing division at a banking group. She is considered a linguistic talent and speaks seven languages ​​fluently. She prefers to spend her free time in Austria on the ski slopes and in summer on Mediterranean beaches, practically on her doorstep in Gozo.
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