Munich International Airport

The Real Name of Munich International Airport

What Munich International Airport? You mean Franz Josef Strauss International Airport, don't you? Actually, both names refer to one and the same airport - Munich International Airport just happens to be the name by which the airport is more commonly known. On official documents, though, it is called Franz Josef Strauss International Airport. It came to be officially named so to honor the memory of Franz Josef Strauss, a key player in German domestic politics who (aside from being a pilot as well) was instrumental in getting the airport built. Hence, the name.

In German, Munich International Airport is called simply Flughafen M�nchen (or Munich Airport in English) by Munich residents. As far as international airports go, Munich International Airport is a relatively young airport which has been in existence only since 1992. To make way for Munich International Airport, the village of Franzheim was obliterated in 1980 so that construction could begin. The 500 villagers of Franzheim were eventually relocated to other communities in the region.

Languages used in Munich

If your German is not so good (or even nonexistent) you need not worry that you will lose your way around Munich International Airport. This is because the airport has signs indicating various services which are written both in German and in English. English is one of the most common languages spoken by people from many countries. German is also quite in vogue among people from the European Union, though not perhaps to as great an extent as English.

Opposition to growth plans by the community

Since passenger traffic at the Munich International Airport is growing quite fast, airport authorities are musing the construction of a third runway to accommodate air travel demand. However, lawsuits have been filed by members of the surrounding community opposing the construction of this runway.

Munich International Airport is already a pretty big airport, being the second-top airport in Germany and one of the busiest European airports there are. It helps provide employment to over 30,000 people, so it also counts as one of the major employers in the region.

Services offered by Munich International Airport

At present, Munich International Airport is responsible for serving cities that have hefty frequencies, and helps declog air traffic at another German airport which is the Frankfurt International Airport.

Munich International Airport operates two main terminals - Terminal 1 and Terminal 2. Though both main terminals have their own food, beverage and retail concessions, the concessions at the common area are of a greater number, and even features an exclusive airport brewpub called Airbrau. Aside from Terminal 1 and Terminal 2, Munich International Airport also provides access to corporate and private aircraft through its General Aviation Terminal.

The airport is also used as a cargo logistics hub by many carriers. Some names that may ring a bell are British Airways World Cargo, Qatar Airways Cargo, Emirates SkyCargo, and FedEx Express. Munich International Airport is definitely one of the top airports in the world since it was tagged by the respected Skytrax organization as the Best Airport in Europe on three occasions to date. So whether you call it Munich International Airport, Munich Airport, or more formally as Franz Josef Strauss International Airport, what counts is that it is one pretty good airport indeed.

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