Munich Airport CEO Michael Kerkloh retires at the end of the year - and he says goodbye with a real coup. The airport and Lufthansa announced on Monday (December 16), the airport will be expanded. «In a Letter of Intent signed today, the two sides announced their joint intention to extend the satellite building connected to Terminal 2 with a building at right angles to the east, the so-called T-handle,» it says.
The expansion will increase the passenger capacity of the Terminal 2 system, which is already almost fully utilized, by up to ten million passengers per year. Last year, Munich Airport welcomed some 46 million passengers. According to the airport and the largest German airline, preliminary planning for the expansion is currently underway. Exact requirements for the T-handle to be built and further details of the cooperation are to be specified.
Cooperation since 1990s
«We are thus laying a strong foundation for the successful continuation and expansion of our cooperation, from which not only both companies, but also Bavaria as a business location, will benefit to a considerable degree,» Kerkloh is promoting the expansion. Lufthansas Munich manager Wilken Bormann explains that more than ever «a direct connection of the airport to the long-distance rail traffic is necessary».
The partnership between Munich Airport and Lufthansa in establishing and expanding the airport began back in the 1990s. With the joint construction and operation of Terminal 2, which opened in 2003, the joint commissioning of the satellite building in April 2016 came as the "first expansion stage" for the joint venture.
Criticism of Frankfurt, praise for Munich
With this expansion Lufthansa is once again strengthening its Munich location. While Germany's largest airport in Frankfurt is repeatedly accusing the airline of high costs and low quality, it is praising Munich. «We continue to grow where quality and costs are right,» said Lufthansa Executive Board member Harry Hohmeister in July, commenting on the decision to relocate two more Airbus A380s from Frankfurt to Munich.
