Munich AirportS New Terminal 1 Expansion: A Hub for International Transfers
Table of Contents
The future route begins in Munich’s usual Terminal 1 at Module B. behind a barrier with boarding pass readers you reach the glass bridge to the 360 meter long boarding gate, Bavaria’s latest expansion with 95,000 m of floor space. Six wide-body aircraft up to A380 size or up to twelve smaller jets in A321LR size fit at the gates of the new building, which is scheduled to open by mid-2026. With a capacity of six million passengers per year, the expansion is its own “airport within an airport” that is intended to substantially improve the functionality and quality of stay in Terminal 1.
This is what the gate will look like when it is fully operational. Munich’s Terminal 1 thus gains a new level of transfer quality.
From the destination traffic to the transfer point
Terminal 1, which opened in 1992, was not built for transfer passengers, as they now play an vital role at the Munich hub, but rather as a “head station in the sky” for pure destination traffic to Bavaria. This original concept is said to go back to the 1972 Olympics. But the prosperous new airport attracted a lot of traffic. Lufthansa, together with the airport company, built its own Terminal 2. It has since been expanded with a large satellite, and the airport has taken on a new role as an increasingly important hub for connecting passengers – far beyond Germany. Accordingly, the old Terminal 1 building also needed a functional adjustment, which the new gate should now provide.
You enter through one of four glass bridges and first go to security, with CT hand luggage scanners (without unpacking) and body scanners for passengers. All passengers then have to go through passport control, as the boarding gate is purely a “non-Schengen terminal” for international traffic to areas outside the EU, such as the Middle East, Asia or the USA.This affects many international airlines that do not operate in terminal 2 and that do not belong to Lufthansa or Star Alliance, but possibly also Condor.
Munich Airport’s New Terminal Section: Ready for takeoff
FMG
The right gate 42/43 is designed with triple bridges for the A380. Emirates will dock here.
Trial operation is already underway
Craftsmen continue to fine-tune systems and monitors within the new terminal section as they await final fire protection approval. however, an internal trial operation began this winter. Initially, groups of 110 people tested the systems, then larger groups of up to 300 participated in several test days. these tests simulated the entire passenger journey – security checks, check-in, arrivals with transfers, and assistance for passengers with disabilities – using precisely defined roles and scenarios. Employees practiced responding to simulated disturbances, failures, and overcrowding.Airport staff, volunteers, and even police officers participated in these complete trials.