The construction of Lufthansa Technik AG's new maintenance hangar at the future Airport Berlin Brandenburg (BER) is officially under way: accompanied by Klaus Wowereit, Governing Mayor of Berlin, Matthias Platzeck, Minister President of the State of Brandenburg, the Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development, Jan Muecke (MdB), and Prof. Dr. Rainer Schwarz, CEO of Berliner Flughaefen, August Wilhelm Henningsen, Chairman of the Executive Board of Lufthansa Technik AG, ceremonially broke ground.
The Hamburg-based company is investing 16 million Euro in the new hangar, which will be able to accommodate up to five short-haul and medium-haul aircraft. Alternatively it will be possible to maintain one widebody aircraft up to the size of an Airbus A340 here. With its multi-million investment, the Lufthansa Group is once again showing its commitment to Berlin Brandenburg as a location and in the long term will secure many highly skilled jobs.
Commenting on the significance of the occasion, August Wilhelm Henningsen, Chairman of the Executive Board of Lufthansa Technik, said: "For Lufthansa Technik today is a special day. With the ground-breaking ceremony for the new maintenance hangar we are expanding our existing Berlin Schoenefeld premises and preparing for the new BER Airport."
Berlin's Governing Mayor, Klaus Wowereit: "The construction of the new maintenance hangar shows that the Lufthansa Group recognizes the future prospects of the new Berlin Brandenburg airport. With this state-of-the-art hangar Lufthansa Technik is not only increasing its maintenance capacity, but in future widebody long-haul aircraft, which in the past largely largely passed Berlin by, will also be able to feel at home here. The Willy Brandt airport will provide a further stimulus to the economy of the capital city and surrounding region."
Minister President Matthias Platzeck acknowledged the commitment of Germany's biggest airline to the future Berlin Brandenburg Airport. He spoke of a further important signal to the region. "Lufthansa is expressly committing itself to the Berlin Brandenburg Airport with this investment," he continued. "This will pay off. For the company, for the airport and for the entire region."
"With the construction of the new maintenance hangar Lufthansa Technik is getting ready to operate at the future Berlin Brandenburg Willy Brandt airport. The company's commitment and investment are the right steps to secure competitiveness at this location," said Jan Muecke, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development.
Prof. Dr. Rainer Schwarz, CEO of Berliner Flughaefen, said: "Lufthansa was born in Berlin. It was in Tempelhof that the airline developed into the European market leader in the 1920s and 1930s. The joint success story of Lufthansa and Berlin was interrupted by the aftermath of the Second World War and the decades during which Germany was divided. All the more reason to be pleased at today's ground-breaking ceremony. It is a forceful start to a strong commitment on the part of Lufthansa to the German capital city and surrounding region. We can hardly wait to find out which new routes Lufthansa will offer in the highly attractive Berlin market with its new Berlin Brandenburg Willy Brandt airport.
By 2012 a maintenance hangar offering 6,700 square metres of floor space plus a further 1,700 square metres of offices, a mechanical workshop and logistics areas are expected to have been built on the 18,200 square metres site. Commencing in June 2012, some 110 highly skilled mechanics and engineers working a three-shift roster will offer maintenance services up to the scope of an A check (planned routine check after approx. 500 flying hours). Present plans assume that four aircraft will be maintained in the hangar at the same time.
A lot of emphasis has been placed on energy efficiency in planning the hangar. The architectural design makes a point of keeping down the room volume as a means of lowering energy consumption. But in order to still be able to respond flexibly to possible requirements, only that section of the building that actually needs to be taller to work on a widebody aircraft in the hangar has been raised: a cutout in the roof structure offers space for the tail unit of a widebody aircraft.
The design not only pays tribute to ecological considerations, but the hangar will have an unmistakable appearance. Its external supporting structure will also help keep the room volume low in the interests of environment and economy.
The project is supported by the State of Brandenburg with funds from the European Fund for Regional Development (EFRD).
Lufthansa Technik. The Lufthansa Technik Group is a fully-owned subsidiary of the Lufthansa Group and, with 32 subsidiaries and affiliated companies and more than 26,000 staff worldwide, is one of the world's leading manufacturer-independent providers of aircraft-related technical services. Lufthansa Technik's portfolio covers the entire service spectrum of maintenance, repair, overhaul, modification and conversion, engines and components for passenger aircraft.
Berlin Brandenburg site. Lufthansa Technik AG is represented at the Berlin Brandenburg site with a base maintenance operation for short-haul and medium-haul aircraft, two line maintenance stations and Lufthansa Bombardier Aviation Services (LBAS). Every year the maintenance operation overhauls around 80 aircraft from the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 families. The stations cover all the maintenance events for the A320 and Boeing 737 families, the A330, A340, Boeing 757 and 767, from transfer checks to A-checks. LBAS is a joint-venture company with Bombardier Aerospace (29 percent) and ExecuJet (20 percent). It is the competence center for the maintenance, repair and overhaul of Bombardier business aircraft (Learjet, Challenger and Global). Altogether Lufthansa Technik employs over 600 staff in the Berlin Brandenburg region.
