Berlin-Brandenburg International Airport

Original link from Airport-Technology.com

BERLIN-BRANDENBURG INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, SCHÖNEFELD, GERMANY The City of Berlin, as would be expected from the capital of a major European country like Germany, has a problem with rapidly expanding volumes of air traffic. The current airport facilities at Tempelhof, Tegel and Schoenfeld are inadequate for future projected air traffic to the city. Tegel and Tempelhof cannot be expanded as they are surrounded by urban areas and the only real option for expansion of airport facilities is Schoenfeld airport in the Southeast of the city. Berlin City Council has taken the stance that the completion of massive new airport facilities is a matter of need as well as of prestige. The only option for them is to expand Schoenfeld airport to form the new Berlin Brandenberg International (BBI) Airport, which will be capable of handling all of Berlin's air traffic needs, and to close Tegel and Tempelhof. The plans for BBI were first put forward in 2000 but due to legal and financing problems the airport expansion has been delayed. CONSTRUCTION AND COURT CASE The official construction permit for the airport expansion at Schoenfeld was granted in 2003. Since then, the finance has been finalised and detailed planning and preparations have been made for the construction. The main obstacle to construction starting properly is a court case about the expansion, which is due to be heard in the Bundesverwaltungsegericht (German Administrative court) in February 2006 as part of a test case for The Transportation Route Planning Acceleration Act. Following a positive outcome, construction will start in mid-2006 and the airport will be completed by 2011. Tempelhof Airport will then be closed in the same year and Tegel Airport shortly after. AIRPORT EXPANSION The Berlin-Schoenfeld northern runway will be closed and demolished, the existing southern runway will be lengthened and a completely new runway constructed south of the new BBI Terminal. This will give the airport two parallel runways with a mid-field terminal building to save space. The airport will be equipped with gates, runways and taxiways capable of handling even the largest super jumbos such as the new A380. The airport will also be integrated into a new road and rail infrastructure to allow good communication and short travelling distance to the centre of Berlin and the rest of Germany. Transport facilities will include a direct motorway connection as well as a high-speed ICE train station directly underneath the terminal. An express train connection will be able to transport passengers into Berlin city-centre in under 20 minutes. The city will be only 30 minutes away by car or shuttle bus. The BBI will allow Berlin the distinction of being the European capital with the shortest distance to an international airport. The BBI will be constructed to serve an initial 20 million passengers by 2011, with the possibility of undertaking additional expansion work to increase that number to 40 million by 2030. The BBI is also planned to have an airport centre, which will contain a range of hotels, retail areas, cafes, bars, restaurants and conference centres. PRIVATISATION OF BERLIN AIRPORT SYSTEM AND FINANCE Part of the complexity of the project has surrounded the reluctance to privatise Berlin Brandenburg Flughafen, the owner of the Berlin airports. The company was set up as a publicly-owned operation, with the majority of shares going to the government of Brandenburg (37%) and the authority of Berlin (37%); the rest is held by the federal government (26%). The conclusion to the negotiations came in November 2002 when the investment consortium, Berlin-Brandenburg International Partner BBIP, led by IVG Holding (Flughafen Wien, Deutsche Bank AG, Caisse des Depots) and Hotchief Airport GmbH, offered to buy 100% of the shares for a consideration of €290 million. The BBIP consortium also agreed to provide a total of €650 million of capital and to acquire any additional land needed for the airport expansion. The plans called for €1.7 billion to be invested, including technical equipment. 75% of the required services were opened for bids to encourage competition. The Federal government agreed to bear the costs for the railway (€496 million) and road infrastructure (€76 million). In addition, the plans called for several villages to be displaced. The government agreed to resettle the people of Diepensee (300) and Selchow at a cost of €32.7 million and €81.8 million respectively. The airport concession period, as part of the Build Operate Transfer (BOT) agreement, is 99 years. To prevent any problematic dealings with this airport expansion an independent organisation, Transparency International Deutschland e.V was appointed to oversee all further business dealings. CONSTRUCTION PREPARATIONS The village sites have been occupied by archaeologists contracted to dig for any important findings before the site is lost forever beneath runway construction. A 1.9km seepage basin has been constructed south of the current airport to handle wastewater from the construction site and prevent contamination of the groundwater. CONTRACTUAL DIFFICULTIES In 1999, the German construction company Hochtief won the bid, but it was thrown out due to allegations of industrial espionage and viewing of sealed bids. Hochtief was excluded from bidding a second time by the German courts. Hotchief was then exonerated or no charges were brought and they were subsequently allowed to take part in the process again. IVG Holding and Hotchief, previously bitter rivals, formed a new consortium and managed to forge a deal to build the new airport. Following a positive outcome in February 2006, construction of Berlin-Brandenburg International Airport will start in mid-2006 and be completed by 2011. Layout of Berlin Schoenfeld Airport prior to expansion into the BBI. A 1.9km seepage basin has been constructed south of the current airport to handle wastewater from the construction site and prevent contamination of the groundwater. Two villages will be displaced by the new airport. Archaeologists have been brought in to dig for any important findings before the site is lost forever beneath runway construction. Layout of the new Berlin-Brandenburg International Airport.