After years of delay and wrangling, German authorities have finally given the all clear for a new airport to be constructed in Berlin at the site of the existing Schönefeld airfield.
The new airport will open in late 2010. The project to erect a new terminal, add a 4,000m (13,000ft) runway and extend the current runway from 3,000m to 3,600m will cost €1.7 billion ($2 billion), while the addition of a rail station and connection to downtown Berlin will cost €500 million.
It has taken nearly a decade to reach this stage, with the government and states of Berlin and Brandenburg announcing the plan to expand Schönefeld in 1996. The planning application was made in late 1999. The approval by the Brandenburg Air Traffic Authority allows Berlin International Airports (BIA) - which runs the city's three airports of Schönefeld, Tegel and Tempelhof - to start planning the new Berlin Brandenburg International (BBI) airport in earnest. The resettlement of an entire village on the new airport's site is already well advanced and construction will begin in 2006.
The initial concept was for BBI to be built by a private consortium, but this plan collapsed last year. With the private option ruled out, the public shareholders - the states of Berlin and Brandenburg each with 37% and the government with 26% - are close to completing the financing for the new airport. The project has attracted much interest from the financial community, says BIA.
The opening of BBI, to the south east of the city, will be the final stage in restructuring the Berlin airport system. Loss-making Tempelhof is to close at the end of October, while Tegel will be shut and its carriers transferred to BBI when the new airport opens. BIA is negotiating with airlines to transfer from Tempelhof to either Tegel or Schönefeld, although some, like SN Brussels Airlines and Germania, want to remain at Tempelhof. The airport is close to downtown Berlin, but BIA says it needs to close because its traffic has fallen from over 1 million passengers annually a few years ago to 460,000 last year. It made an operating loss at Tempelhof of €15.3 million last year and BIA has lost €139 million at the airport since 1991.
Schönefeld, which primarily serves leisure and low-cost carriers, is growing rapidly, particularly with easyJet establishing a base at the airport in May, which will be its largest in continental Europe. Last year it handled 1.7 million passengers, with 3.4 million expected this year and much of that growth coming from easyJet. By the end of 2004, the carrier will be flying to 13 destinations and have nine aircraft based there.
Schönefeld hopes this growth and the addition of more low-cost carriers will enable it to break even by 2007-8. Last year it lost €31.9 million. However, with a capacity of 4.5 million passengers annually, the airport will need to expand its terminal space to cope with an expected 7-8 million passengers a year by the time BBI opens. This will be done by 2005 in a low-cost terminal development, says BIA. The new BBI airport has a planned capacity of 20 million passengers in the first phase. BIA intends to create a "secondary hub" at BBI to compete with airports like Copenhagen and Vienna for eastern European traffic.
The closure of Tempelhof and Schönefeld breaking even will boost BIA's performance. Today, only a profit of €50.2 million at the airport's main business airport Tegel enabled the group to record an operating profit of €3 million last year. However, Tegel's growth is restrained. It has only a small terminal and limited check-in areas restricting traffic growth.
Lufthansa, which only operates from Tegel and is the largest carrier at the airport, has no plans for new services there this year or next and is waiting to see if BIA will expand the existing terminal to create more space. BIA is looking at this option, while another possibility is for space in the military part of the airport to be freed up for civil use.
Lufthansa welcomes the BBI planning decision. "We hope it will be put into action as soon as possible," says the German flag carrier. "The Berlin and Brandenburg regions need the airport desperately." EasyJet also welcomes the move. "The trick is to build the infrastructure at both levels so that it is suitable for the point-to-point services of traditional and low-cost airlines," says the low-fare airline.
MARK PILLING LONDON
Source: Airline Business
