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STUTTGART AIRPORT EXPANSION DRIVE

By Heiko Stolzke

Stuttgart airport has nothing in common with a flashy sportscar. "We are the leading airport serving the Stuttgart region - we wouldn't claim to be competing with Munich or Frankfurt", airport director Georg Fundel makes clear. As far as passenger numbers are concerned, Stuttgart is in the midfield compared with other German airports. Over eight million passengers began their journeys in the Swabian metropolis in 2000. Roughly two-thirds of them were travelling to foreign destinations. Apart from flights to European metropolises such as London or Paris, the flight schedule is dominated by charter destinations in Spain and Turkey. The importance of point-to-point connections amongst travellers using Stuttgart is borne out by the traffic statistics. Thus, 29.7% of all domestic passengers in 2000 were flying to Berlin. By contrast, only 16.8% flew to the Frankfurt hub which specialises in transfers.

However, the rising number of direct connections is a headache to management of the airport in this capital city of the state of Baden-Württemberg. If the frequency of aircraft movements continues to rise, in five years' time space could be very tight on the taxiways. If the number of arrivals and departures increases by 3% per year, the airport will hit its capacity ceiling in 2006. "We are currently optimising the taxi circuit system and procedures on the ground, though there is a limit to what can be done," Fundel explains. Building a second runway is a political issue as the Stuttgart exhibition centre is shortly to move to some free space near the airport. This explains why the airport supervisory board, chaired by Ulrich Müller, Transport Minister of the state of Baden-Württemberg, in a resolution in July 2001 saw "no occasion for planning a second runway."

At present the 3,345m long runway in Stuttgart-Echterdingen is shared by Cessna 152 and Boeing 767 alike. Fundel is only partly satisfied with the runway length. "We are almost 400 metres above sea-level here, and on a hot day the density altitude becomes unpleasantly noticeable." Takeoff calculations have to allow for overflying a mountain range, quite apart from the normal reserve. The mountain ridge lies directly in the primary takeoff direction towards the west.

The S class, as it were, in the Stuttgart scheduled flight plan is a daily Delta connection to Atlanta. Unlike many other non-stop connections, the routing was not changed after 11 September. The main reason for this, Fundel believes, is the thriving business clientèle. "In the Stuttgart area there are a lot of companies that have close ties to the USA."

The second transatlantic connection from Stuttgart confirms Fundel's assessment: this is a four times weekly service operated by DaimlerChrysler using its own Airbus A319CJ, between Pontiac near Detroit and the Swabian metropolis. Managers and engineers commute in the comfortably fitted out, 44-seat aircraft between the company's headquarters in Stuttgart and Auburn Hills. The car manufacturer's special air service has its home base in a hangar complex next to Lufthansa's Stuttgart maintenance hangar. With the Airbus A319CJ, two Learjet 60's and two Challengers, the DaimlerChrysler fleet is the biggest business jet operator at Stuttgart airport. In 2002 the first Global Express is to commence flying in the colours of the car manufacturer.

Whereas DaimlerChrysler passengers check in in a separate company terminal, all the other airlines at present check their passengers in in three gate areas. Terminals 1 and 2 are the starting point for scheduled services, while passengers on charter flights are handled in Terminal 4. Terminal 3 is currently a huge construction site, from which a complete new building complex is expected to emerge by 2004. Check-in counter handling capacity is not a problem as far as management is concerned. "When Terminal 3 comes on line we will have enough space for 13 million passengers," says Fundel.

On the other hand it will be tight as far as General Aviation is concerned. "We have to concentrate on core areas," emphasises Fundel. For large companies like Bosch, Porsche and DaimlerChrysler the airport is indispensable. In his view, smaller aircraft should switch to other airfields in the region.

The Stuttgart airport operator is not just promoting business traffic at Stuttgart airport, but 15 months ago it acquired two thirds of the shares in Baden Airpark. "It is not a question of controlling the competition," says Fundel. "As the airport of the regional capital, we have to ensure that there is a convincing air travel concept for the entire state." Passenger statistics document the growth potential that definitely exists at this airport that is close to Baden Baden. Between 1999 and 2000 passenger numbers rose by over 30% to 186,200. "Baden is ideal for business flights and tourism," says Fundel, appraising its future prospects. "A positive trend there will ensure that there is growth potential here in Stuttgart as well."

The airport is currently investing heavily in air freight handling. On the southern side of the site a new air cargo terminal is under construction. Fundel is quite relaxed about the present collapse in freight business. "Our present freight department is a relic of the 1970s. The new building will enable us to catch up with the state-of-the-art." Around 70 carriers have already taken up premises in the new complex. They will be moving in in the spring of 2002. Then a separate feeder road will link the cargo terminal directly with the Stuttgart motorway intersection. An office centre is to be built in the present air freight courtyard once the new cargo terminal is open.

The favourable situation of the airport is very striking as one makes the final approach to runway 25 of Stuttgart airport. The A8 motorway runs directly next to the runway. The road from the motorway meanders from the north-west to the terminal. The journey from the airport to the centre of town takes just under 25 minutes on the S-Bahn train service. "We are well positioned - both geographically and from a business perspective," says Fundel.

From FLUG REVUE 1/2002, page 74