Berlin-Brandenburg International Airport

Infobox Airport
name = Berlin Brandenburg International Airport
nativename = Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg International
nativename-a =
nativename-r =


image-width =
caption =
IATA = BER (planned)
ICAO = EDDB (planned)
type = Public
owner-oper =
city-served = Berlin, Germany
location = Schönefeld, Brandenburg
elevation-f = 154| elevation-m = 48
coordinates = coord|52|22|00|N|13|30|12|E|type:airport
website = [http://www.berlin-airport.de/EN/BBI/ Berlin Airports – BBI]
metric-rwy = Yes
r1-number =
r1-length-f = 11,881
r1-length-m = 3,600
r1-surface =
r2-number =
r2-length-f = 13,123
r2-length-m = 4,000
r2-surface =
footnotes =

Berlin-Brandenburg International Airport (German: "Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg International") is the tentative name of a new airport, that will use some of the infrastructure of the existing Berlin-Schönefeld International Airport ("Flughafen Berlin Schönefeld") in Schönefeld, Germany, located near Berlin and is scheduled for completion in 2011. An alternative name could be "Hauptstadt-Airport BBI" [ [http://www.berlin-airport.de/DE/BBI/index.html Berliner Flughäfen] ] . After a 10-year administrative court battle, on 16 March, 2006 the federal administrative court in Leipzig gave the go-ahead for the project by ruling in favour of Berlin against challenges by residents and municipalities near the future airport. Schönefeld is located on the border between Berlin and Brandenburg, the state surrounding Berlin; the name reflects that the airport will serve both.

Berlin-Brandenburg International (BBI) will replace the three airports currently serving Berlin. The existing airport in Schönefeld will be greatly expanded to the south from its current state to allow this. In fact, the new airport will only have the current southern Runway (the new designated northern Runway) in common with the existing airport. Due to noise abatement regulations flights between midnight and 5 am will remain banned.

Planning and construction

The primary reason for the construction of a new airport is to increase the airport capacity for the Berlin-Brandenburg region as two of the three existing airports are operating well beyond their maximum planned capacity. The resolution for the spatial planning of the airport was made 13 August 2004. [cite web |url=http://www.mir.brandenburg.de/cms/detail.php?id=173010&_siteid=45 |title=Planfeststellungsbeschluss des Landes Brandenburg für den Ausbau des Flughafens Berlin-Brandenburg International |accessdate=2008-06-15 |work= |date=13. August 2004 – Resolution for the spatial planing of BBI by the state of Brandenburg (German)] The resolution calls for an expansion of the existing airport Schönefeld into a single airport that will replace the three currently existing airports in and around Berlin. Indeed the closure of Tempelhof International Airport and Berlin-Tegel International Airport are set as a prerequisite for opening Berlin-Brandenburg International to traffic. [cite web |url=http://www.mir.brandenburg.de/cms/media.php/2239/PFSB_283-350.pdf |title=Planfeststellungsbeschluss zum BBI des Brandenburgischen Ministeriums für Infrastruktur und Raumordnung |accessdate=2008-06-15 |format=PDF |pages=pp. 327-328, 355 – Resolution of spatial planing for BBI by the Brandenburg Ministry for Infrastructure and Spatial Planing (German)] [cite web |url=http://www.bverwg.bund.de/media/archive/3830.pdf |title=Urteil des Bundesverwaltungsgerichts BVerwG 4 A 1073.04 |accessdate=2008-06-15 |work= |date= |format=PDF – Ruling by the Federal Administrative Court of Germany, paragraph 193, p. 86 (German)] In 2007 a total of 20 million passengers have used the three existing airports. The most congested airport is Tegel, which has a planned capacity for 9,5 million, but was handling over 13 million passengers in 2007. [cite web |url=http://www.berlin-airport.de/EN/Presse/Basisinfo/BerlinerFlughaefen/TXL.html |title=Basic figures for Tegel airport |accessdate=2008-06-15 |work= |date= ] The first phase of BBI is scheduled to open in late 2011 and will have an initial capacity for up to 30 million passengers [cite web |url=http://www.berlinonline.de/berliner-zeitung/archiv/.bin/dump.fcgi/2008/0124/berlin/0020/index.html |title=Five million more passengers in the beginning|accessdate=2008-07-31 |work= |date= ] . Additional Terminals have already been incorporated into the plans and the final capacity after completion of all expansions is given as 50 million passenger per year.

Construction work began on 5. September 2006. The initial projects were the access roads for the construction site and extension of the future northern runway. (This being the only physical feature BBI will share with the existing Schönefeld airport.) In 2007 work was started on the railway tunnel that will run underneath the airfield and the completion of the A 113 Autobahn which will connect the new terminals to the Autobahn network. The construction work for the new terminal is scheduled to begin in 2008 and by 2010 the airport fire brigade will move into newly build facilities. The new airport is scheduled to open for traffic in late October 2011. [cite web |url=http://www.berlin-airport.de/EN/BBI/FlughafenDerZukunft/Zeitplan/ |title=Schedule of BBI construction work |accessdate=2008-06-15 |work= |date= ]

The inhabitants of the villages Diepensee (population 335) and Selchow (population 35) were resettled to either Königs Wusterhausen or Groß Ziethen, as the two villages were inside the area of the future airport. [cite web |url=http://www.berlin-airport.de/EN/BBI/ProjektAktuell/RueckblickUmsiedlung/ZahlenDatenFakten.html |title=Relocating residents – facts and figures |accessdate=2008-06-15 |work= |date= ]

Both the expansion of the airport into BBI as well as the quality of the connection to the railway network are subject of public debate. The "Bürgerverein Brandenburg-Berlin e.V." is an organization that represents local residents who protest against an expansion of air traffic to and from the south of Berlin. Also, experts for traffic and environmental issues criticize both that the S-Bahn is forced into making a several mile long detour to the west before reaching the station underneath the new terminal and the late completion dates for the connections to the regional and intercity networks.

Naming the new airport

Since the acronym "BBI" is already in use as IATA-Code for Biju Patnaik Airport, "Berlin Brandenburg International" will use "BER" (the current "Metropolitan Area Code" for the three Berlin airports).

Meanwhile the choice of an official name is still in public debate. Among the suggested patrons are Willy Brandt, Marlene Dietrich and Albert Einstein. Otto Lilienthal has also been suggested but already is the official name of Berlin-Tegel airport.

tructures

During the construction of the new airport, some 3,400,000 t of concrete will be used and 14 km of temporary access roads, 19 new road bridges as well as a network of approximately 20 km of permanent roads will be build.

Runways

In December 2007 the old northern runway of Schönefeld airport was closed to enable the construction of the final 650 m of the Autobahn A113. Hence, Schönefeld airport will be operating with a single runway until the opening of BBI in 2011.

In late 2007, the southern runway (07R/25L) of Schönefeld airport was extended from 3,000 to 3,600 meters. [cite web |url=http://www.berlin-airport.de/EN/Presse/Pressemitteilungen/2007/2007_10_12_Suedbahn.html |title=Closure of the south runway at Schoenefeld |accessdate=2008-06-15 |work= |date=2007-10-12 ] This runway will serve as the northern runway for BBI. An additional runway with a length of 4,000 meters will be constructed to the south of the new terminal.

Terminal

The terminal buildings will be situated between the two runways, creating a midfield airport. It will have an initial capacity of up to 30 million passengers, with the option of expanding the capacity through the construction of additional satellite terminals parallel to the intimal building. With all additions, the final capacity will be 50 million passengers. (By comparison: Munich Airport had 32 million passengers in 2007). In the first phase the terminal will have 25 Jet bridges as well as 10 “Walk-boarding-Gates” for rapid passenger movement. Due to the high demand in low-cost airlines, an additional third building featuring Walk-boarding-Gates will be added during the initial phase.

The first module of the midfield cargo facilities will have a capacity of 60,000 t of cargo per year. With the completion of all planned expansions this can be expanded to handle up to 600,000 t per year.

Exhibition and infotower

With the beginning of construction work in October 2006, an information and exhibition center called "Airportworld BBI" was opened between the S-Bahn stop "Berlin-Schönefeld Flughafen" and Schönefeld airport. [ [http://www.berlin-airport.de/EN/Dialog/AirportworldBBI/Aktuelles/ Airportworld BBI] ]

Since November 2007 there also is the "BBI-Infotower", which is situated in the central part of the construction site for the new terminal complex. From the top of the tower it is possible to get an overview of the entire construction site. [ [http://www.berlin-airport.de/EN/BBI/ProjektAktuell/Details/BBI-Infotower.html BBI-Infotower] ]

Business park

The area surrounding BBI is zoned as a commercial district. Plans call for the construction of shopping centers and parking structures as well as industrial, commercial and office spaces.

Situated directly at the terminal complex will be the "BBI Airport City" with an area of 16 ha. Marketing of the real estate has begun in fall 2006 and beginning in 2009 offices, restaurants and retailers will be opening here.

To the north is the "BBI Business Park Berlin" with a planned area of 109 ha for industrial and commercial use.

A further "Business Park North" was planned as a future use of the area of the old Schönefeld terminal. However, so far there are no definite plans for the future use of this area.

Railway station

The terminal will be connected to a 3.1 km long railway tunnel running from east to west underneath the apron and the terminal complex. As the 9 tunnel sections are the first structures to be build, they can be constructed in the form of conventional excavations.

A railway station with 6 tracks will be part of the tunnel. With all future rail connections in place it will be reachable in just 17 minutes from Berlins city center. Two tracks will serve as a terminus for the S-Bahn, while the other four tracks will handle InterCity, InterCityExpress and RegionalExpress trains. Since the airport is directly south of Berlin, rail traffic will be able to connect it to an area reaching as far as the cities of Dresden, Halle and Leipzig. It is planned that about half of all passengers will reach BBI by rail, with a RegionalBahn connecting it to Berlin Hauptbahnhof, Potsdamer Platz and Berlin Südkreuz non-stop to BBI.

The railway station will form the lowest level of the terminal complex and will be situated at a depth of 14.5 m under the surrounding ground level. A total of 33 km of track and 23 railroad switches will be laid. [ [http://www.db.de/site/bahn/de/unternehmen/presse/presseinformationen/ubd/d20071121,version=1.html "Aufträge für Schienenanbindung Flughafen BBI vergeben"] – Contracts signed for rail connection of BBI airport. Press release from the Deutsche Bahn on 21. November 2007 (German)]

Plans to extend the subway line U7 from Rudow to BBI have been set aside by the Berlin Senate.

References

External links

* [http://www.berlin-airport.de/bbi/rubEnglish Berlin Brandenburg International Airport Homepage]
* [http://www.berlin-airport.de/DE/BBI/ArminUndDieBaustelle/meinewebcam.html Live Webcam showing the new airport under construction]