OREANDA-NEWS. More than 800 guests were in attendance at Munich Airport today to mark the topping-out ceremony for the new satellite facility for Terminal 2, which the airport jointly operates with Lufthansa.  This new passenger facility is essential for keeping Terminal 2 on track with the outstanding growth it has achieved since opening in 2003.

It will be the first midfield terminal to go into operation at a German airport. This  configuration, as an island on the airport apron, permits aircraft to dock on both sides of the building. As a result, the satellite will have gate positions for a total of 27 aircraft and provide added capacity for 11 million passengers per year. Moreover, as Munich Airport CEO Dr. Michael Kerkloh explained in his speech to the crowd of wellwishers, the facility can be expanded in a second phase: "This is a built-in option of the satellite, and would increase the total annual passenger capacity to 17 million. With that order of magnitude, we cannot overstate the importance of the satellite for the future development of our airport."   

Thomas Klьhr, the Lufthansa Executive Board member in charge of passenger operations, finance and the Munich hub, had words of praise for the quality and service standards of the new facility in his speech: "Terminal 2, combined with the satellite, will offer our guests an outstanding overall travel experience. To sum it up, this new, state-of-the-art facility will raise the Bavarian hub to a whole new dimension in the future."

The capacity expansion has become necessary because Terminal 2, which was designed to handle 25 million passengers per year, is now stretched to the limit. The new satellite facility will be built on top of the baggage sorting hall on the airport's eastern apron as a functional element of Terminal 2. The pier will have a length of more than 600 meters and 52 departure gates. The satellite is not a standalone terminal because it has no landside transportation links. Passengers arriving or departing through the new facility will use the check-in and ticket desks and baggage pick-up area in Terminal 2. The two buildings will be linked via an underground personal transportation system (PTS) – a kind of subway passing through an existing 400-meter tunnel beneath the apron. 

With approximately 125,000 sq.m. (1.3 million sq.ft.) of floor space, the satellite will offer all important service facilities, including two Lufthansa Service Centers with a total of 24 transfer desks and 42 passport control stations for passengers entering and leaving the country. The five Lufthansa lounges in the satellite will double the number of lounges available in and around Terminal 2. To be set up at the center of the satellite on both passenger levels are attractive market places, built around the existing ground traffic control tower. Here passengers will find a broad range of shops and restaurants covering a total area of more than 9,000 square meters (100,000 sq.ft.). Designed in accordance with sustainable construction principles, the facility's carbon footprint will show a 40 percent improvement over Munich Airport's two existing terminals.

Work on the satellite is proceeding on schedule: At present, the facade is under construction, and the interior work and installation of technical equipment is also underway. Seven connecting structures for the new passenger bridges have already been installed. Construction work on the Terminal 2 satellite is due for completion in 2015. 

As in the original Terminal 2 development, the investment costs of 650 million euros for the new building will be shared by FMG and Lufthansa on a 60:40 basis. The architectural firm handling the general planning of the satellite will be the Munich firm Koch + Partner, which already performed this role in the Terminal 2 project.