Berlin Brandenburg Airport Opening in 2013

Nov. 26, 2012 - PRLog -- GERMANY - November 26th, 2012 - The new airport will replace the three airports that have previously served the city of Berlin. Due to the creation of East and West Germany at the end of the Second World War, multiple airports were required in a small geographical area. However, since the reunification of Germany, it has not been practical to continue to operate three separate airports due to both cost and increasing passenger numbers.

The new Brandenburg International airport is situated 18km outside Berlin on the site of the current Berlin Schönefeld airport. One of the existing runways and some of the Schönefeld infrastructure have been incorporated into the new airport facilities. Of the two remaining airports, Berlin Templehof was closed in 2008, and Berlin Tegel will close when the new airport is operational.

The new airport has been plagued with delays. It was originally expected to become operational in October 2011; however on-going design and technical issues have meant there have been over-runs in both time and cost.

The airport will become the home for Air Berlin and Germanwings and an important hub for the national carrier Lufthansa. The airport is projected to be the third busiest in Europe, and expects to process between 30 and 50 million passengers a year.

Ease of passenger mobility around the airport has been an integral part of the overall design. This starts with the fact the terminal is one single building, and will make flight changes easier for transit passengers. Feeder floors lead to the underground train network to allow for efficient transfer through to the public transport options. An underground passage has been built from the desks of the car hire companies (http://www.alamo.co.uk/Spw/740/uk/EU/DE) on the ground floor, through to the dedicated car hire service centre from where customers collect, and return their vehicles.

There will be two parallel runaways which will have a distance of nearly two kilometers between them. The new terminal will be located between the runways, and there are plans to add two satellites to this terminal once it operational, to increase the passenger capacity.

As with any modern airport design, the retail and shopping options are extensive. These are located in both the public, and the air-side traveler areas. There are expected to be 150 shops, restaurants and service facilities, covering an area of more than 20,000 square meters.

For more information see http://preview.berlin-airport.de/en/travellers/