Referred to as ‘Munich West’, the airport has positioned itself as a preferred alternative to Munich for the budget carriers – setting aeronautical charges to attract low-cost carriers has been a key strategy.
Setting aeronautical charges to attract low-cost carriers has been a key strategy for Memmingen’s CEO Ralf Schmid. The airport has secured unprecedented growth this year – largely attributed to Ryanair starting operations in May with seven new routes – to Alghero (Sardinia), Alicante, Barcelona (Girona), Barcelona (Reus), Dublin, London Stansted and Pisa. “We’ve seen 92% year-on-year growth in June, and TUIfly has also increased its services here,” said Schmid.
Memmingen airport handled just under 470,000 passengers in 2008 – and predicts this will rise to 700,000 during 2009. The airport’s three major carriers – TUIfly, Ryanair and now Wizz Air, which began serving the airport in August with flights from Kiev (with a second service just added to Katowice) will guarantee a healthy stream of traffic into next year. The passenger profile includes business travellers on domestic flights and leisure travellers visiting European destinations. “We have grown by 26% in the first half of 2009 and expect this to increase in the second half of the year,” said Schmid, who admits that negotiations with low-cost airlines has been an integral part of his job. “It’s still a new market and a new airport,” said Schmid, who previously studied construction engineering and project management before he became engaged in building the commercial airport. The results, he says, are paying off. “Financial performance is growing quicker than expected and growing now is very important. When you start up an airport there are a lot of fixed costs. We will really start to see the benefits next year,” he added.
The airport aims to gain new destinations in Spain, Portugal, Benelux, Eastern Europe and Scandinavia.
Traffic is currently split equally between the charter and low-cost carriers. “There is a good mix here and we are happy to have three big players operating in these markets,” said Schmid. Operations also include seasonal services by carriers including Hamburg International and Nouvelle Air Tunis.
With TUIfly well-established at the airport, the unresolved merger situation with Air Berlin and TUIfly has resulted in discussions to segment their networks. Schmid said: “We would like Air Berlin to serve the domestic and the European city destinations that TUIfly currently serves. TUIfly will be concentrating its traffic around the leisure routes.”
The airport is strategically positioned as the gateway to the Allgäu. “The region sees 3.2 million annual arrivals – it’s the biggest tourism region in Germany and a big draw. This is an airport for the region of Memmingerberg and the tourism region of Allgäu. Passengers can park here cheaply and our express bus into Munich is very important to us.”
In the medium-term, the airport is planning to serve 1.5 million passengers. By next year, the airport expects to be a step closer to this target. “2010 will be a key milestone as our target is one million annual passengers. Turnaround is very good for a young airport with 90% private shareholders.”
