Munich International Airport (MUC/EDDM), Germany

Munich International Airport (Franz Josef Strauss International Airport) is located 28km north-east of Munich, Germany, and is the major hub for Lufthansa and Star Alliance group airline operators. One of the airport's main faults in that it is quite a distance away from the city centre.

The airport is operated by Flughafen München Gesellschaft (FMG) and can handle over 28 million passengers a year. In 2006 the airport had almost 32 million passengers, making it the second most important airport in Germany next to Frankfurt and the eighth most important airport in Europe, with the MUC site providing 27,400 jobs.

In 2006 and for the second consecutive year, Munich Airport was named the 'Best Airport in Europe' and the third best worldwide (after Singapore Changi Airport and Hong Kong International Airport) by Skytrax.

Modern airport and terminal 2

The airport is of a modern design: it started construction in 1980 and began operations in 1992 when it replaced the international airport in München-Riem.

The airport has two identical runways 08R/26L and 08L/26R, both concrete paved and 13,123ft (4,000m) long. The airport expanded rapidly when it first opened; this was largely because the German airline Lufthansa chose to centre more of its operations in Munich.

Munich now handles more Lufthansa domestic flights than Frankfurt. This rapid growth led first to an expansion of the original Munich terminal and then, in mid-2003, to the opening of a second terminal, which can handle 25 million passengers a year.

Terminal 2 was jointly financed by Lufthansa and FMG and is jointly operated as well. The architects for terminal 2 were Koch & Partner of Munich.

Photovoltaic cels on the roof

In August 2002 the photovoltaic facility (or solar energy facility) installed by BP Solar on the roof of the check-in concourse of the new terminal 2 was connected to the airport power grid.

It is one of the largest solar facilities of its kind and produces an average of approximately 500,000kWh a year, representing the electricity needs of about 200 households.

High production of energy is guaranteed even in winter through the use of the latest polycrystalline silicon cells and the optimal alignment of the solar modules at a 20° angle facing south.

Costs for the facility totalled €2.7m. Lufthansa participated in this project as a sponsor.

Cargo handling

After nine months of construction work the new express services hall at the south-eastern end of the freight area was officially opened in September 2005. The 4,400m² complex is used jointly used by the integrated express carriers FedEx, DHL and UPS. With a total volume of 400,000t in 2006, the annual airfreight turnover at Munich has quadrupled since opening in May 1992.

One of the next cargo expansion projects will be the construction of an express cargo station and also a new larger border control office with a small animal station.

Baggage handling system

The Siemens Production and Logistics Systems Group won an order worth $93m from Flughafen München Baugesellschaft GmbH for the construction of a fully automatic baggage handling system for the new terminal 2 in Munich Airport in October 2002.

The new system (Crisbag) was able to handle up to 100,000 items of baggage a day. The time taken to change flights is crucial, which includes baggage transfer. The new terminal at Munich Airport is programmed to achieve a maximum baggage transfer time of 30 minutes, allowing for all necessary security checks and even including special baggage such as ski sacks and golf bags.

Siemens supplied the baggage handling equipment, including the automation system. Around 40km of transport and sorting belts were installed. The baggage sorting system is controlled by about 100 Siemens controls and a fully redundant computer system. The status of the facility can even be checked via the airport intranet.

Immediately after check-in, baggage is loaded onto totes, where it remains throughout the handling process. The tag on the bag (with barcode) is linked directly to the code on the tote. Early baggage and intermediate buffer storage are integrated and an automatic tracking facility keeps tabs on each item until it leaves the correct discharge chute.

The track-and-trace system is 100% reliable as the bag stays in the same tote from check-in to discharge. All types of baggage up to 2.2m in length can be safely conveyed. In the tote, baggage cannot suffer any damage and can be easily X-rayed by 100% hold baggage screening incorporated in the CrisBag system.

The system can transport baggage over long distances, such as between terminals. With a speed of up to 7m a second and a throughput that can be increased by adding more circuits (the system is modular), the system can reduce transfer time significantly.

It is capable of handling 19,000 items of baggage an hour to accommodate the terminal's anticipated over-20 million passengers a year (2005 figures showed 28.6 million).

IT at Munich

The IT department at Munich has long been known for its innovation. They were the first to introduce multiple ISP hotspots to an airport concourse. This system uses technology from Cisco Systems to allow business travellers to access the internet and email at the airport from their own ISP. Future challenges for the airport IT department include:

• Implementation of CDM (Collaborative Decision Making), which is a new concept adopted by the ECAC (European Civil Aviation Conference) for European Air Traffic Management Strategy
• Implementation of vehicle positioning (GPS, Galileo via WLAN)
• Implementation of multilateration (for accurate aircraft positioning)
• Renewal of the two flight information systems by a universal display system
• Renewal of the trunked radio
• Implementation of business intelligence
• Modernisation of the terminal CCTV systems

Long-term plans for the airport

The annual passenger volume is expected to approach 56 million by 2020. The long-term plans of Munich International include a third runway in the north of the airfield so as to allow in excess of 120 movements an hour over all three runways.

In addition there will be additional building work and extension including a second hotel, more maintenance and administration buildings, and a fourth hall for aircraft maintenance.

When the airport exceeds 40 million passengers a year a third terminal is planned to allow for an additional 20 million passengers. Of course there is also much work being carried out around the airport to make it ready for the A380 superjumbo.

Munich Airport rail link

In September 2007 an announcement was made that the long-standing project to build a high-speed link between the airport and the city centre at the Hauptbahnhof (main rail station) would go ahead.

The €1.85bn project will be shared between the state of Bavaria, national rail operator DB and the Transrapid manufacturing consortium.

In September 2008, it was announced that financing had been agreed upon by member parties to fund the Transrapid magnetic rail link after private investors agreed to bridge funding – previously, the need for an extra $232m had held the project back.

The 37km double-track magnetic levitation route would broadly follow that of the current S1 suburban rail service, taking only ten minutes (a quarter of the present time) between termini with speeds up to 500km/h.

Controversial because of the cost, environmental issues and a fatal accident on the test system in northern Germany, the 'Maglev' would solve a basic problem of the airport's distance from the city and from the main axis of existing long distance rail services.