Lufthansa and Munich airport's operator FMG have approved plans to construct a satellite building to increase the capacity of the Bavarian hub's Terminal 2.
The new facility will be build on top of the existing baggage sorting hall on the easterly apron 2, which is employed to sort baggage for aircraft on remote stands. The satellite building will be connected to Terminal 2, which is exclusively used by Lufthansa and its partner airlines, by an underground passenger link.
The respective tunnel is already in place but has yet to be equipped with an automated railway system.
Munich's elongated satellite building will have two public levels to separate passengers on flights inside or outside the Schengen agreement area. It will add 52 gates and 27 passenger air bridges, one of which will able to serve the Airbus A380. This will double the number of gates in Terminal 2, from which travellers can access aircraft without using an apron bus.
© FMG |
Annual passenger capacity will be increased by 11 million through the satellite. Terminal 2, which was designed to handle 25 million travellers and opened in 2003, is expected to reach its capacity limit next year. If necessary, the new building can be extended eastwards to form a T-shaped footprint in the future.
The existing baggage transport system is to be improved as part of the expansion project.
Total costs have been put at €650 million ($850 million) and will be shared by FMG and Lufthansa on a respective 60:40 basis, as in the original Terminal 2 investment.
With the final planning permission already given, along with the approval of the FMG and Lufthansa supervisory boards and shareholders, only the budget committee of Bavaria's state parliament and Munich's city council need to approve the project. If everything goes to plan, operations in the satellite should begin in 2015.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
