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Tags :Continental Europe, Air Berlin, Dusseldorf Airport
Two reasons to celebrate at the airport of Düsseldorf: Official opening of North Rhine-Westphalia's biggest hangar and 30th anniversary of Air Berlin; air traffic is one important economic factor for North Rhine-Westphalia
El Aeropuerto de Dusseldorf está de festejo por dos razones: la inauguración oficial del mayor hangar de North Rhine-Westphalia; y el 30 aniversario de Air Berlin. El tráfico de pasajeros supone un importante factor económico para North Rhine-Westphalia.
Last week there were two reasons at the same time to celebrate at the airport of Düsseldorf: The 30th anniversary of Air Berlin and the official opening of the newly built hangar 7, which the airline will use in future for the maintenance of its fleet. The North Rhine-Westphalian Minister for Economic Affairs, Christa Thoben, Düsseldorf's Lord Mayor, Dirk Elbers, and Air Berlin's CEO, Joachim Hunold, were among the guests in North Rhine-Westphalia's biggest hangar.
Also present were Klaus Pacher, head of the North Rhine-Westphalian management of Ed. Züblin AG, as the representative of the involved construction firms as well as the management of the airport, Christoph Blume and Thomas Schnalke.
Thirty years ago the first Air Berlin flight took off, in 1991 the airline came to Düsseldorf for the first time. In the meantime it connects the federal state's capital with some 100 destinations worldwide and carries out more than 140 flights per day in Düsseldorf. With 6.6 million passengers last year the Air Berlin Group is by far the largest airline at the airport of the capital of the federal state. Furthermore Düsseldorf is the most important hub of Air Berlin. At present, the airline employs a total of about 2,700 staff members at the location Düsseldorf. From 5 May the airline will use the new hangar for the maintenance of its fleet and by this will have made Düsseldorf its biggest maintenance site. The hangar is situated to the east of the Terminal and has room for up to three wide-bodied aircraft.
North Rhine-Westphalia's Minister for Economic Affairs, Christa Thoben, described Air Berlin's importance for Germany's most populous federal state and emphasized the very high standing of the international air traffic link of North Rhine-Westphalia. The minister said: "Investors from America, the Arabian countries or Asia pay special attention to how locations in Europe are reachable and how the locations within Europe are interconnected. With its global route network Air Berlin, amongst others, makes an important contribution to this in Düsseldorf." She added: "I am pleased about the development of the airport's infrastructure, for instance this hangar, and the further development of the international route network in Düsseldorf. This is a significant contribution for North Rhine-Westphalia to be successful in the global competition of locations."
the Lord Mayor, Dirk Elbers, announced "This airport is the greatest location and the most important hub for Air Berlin's short, medium and long-haul traffic, and we, the people of Düsseldorf, are very proud of this,With regard to the new main maintenance center he said: "The maintenance business will grow into a new dimension through this hangar. These are highly qualified workplaces that we could really use in Düsseldorf. Air Berlin clearly points the way of its future plans by this."
Air Berlin's CEO, Joachim Hunold explained "Düsseldorf is not only our largest maintenance location. All in all we safeguard about 2,700 jobs on the ground and in the air at our most important hub. This shows that we trust in the location Düsseldorf. How important it is for us to be present here, is not only demonstrated by our entry into North Rhine-Westphalia's largest hangar. It shows in the little things: Last year, for example, the number of apprentices in the technical area alone has already been more than doubled and some 40 new employees have been taken on."
Christoph Blume, CEO of the airport management, explained that Air Berlin serves the highest number of destinations as well as to the most distant places - for instance Los Angeles or Bangkok - from Düsseldorf and has grown above average during the last years. With regard to the Air Berlin hub he said: "The linking between Air Berlin's medium and long haul destinations is nowhere else as developed as here in Düsseldorf. We consider the extension of the main maintenance center as a long-term dedication to the location Düsseldorf." Mr Blume presented the hangar key to Mr Hunold - and the hangar was opened officially with the coming in of an Air Berlin aircraft type Airbus A330.
After a 16-month construction time hangar 7 was completed on schedule in the middle of April. In peak periods some 200 people worked on the construction site and were involved in the project. The total costs for the project, which was carried out by a joint venture under the lead management of the Ed. Züblin AG and the Claus Queck GmbH, amount to almost 65 million Euro.
Hangar 7 consists of a steel structure with a box panel lining; in accordance with radar compatibility a facework of polycarbonate has been chosen in the door area. The hangar is approximately 220 meters long and 90 meters deep. It holds, for example, three long-haul aircraft type A340-600 or Boeing 787 Dreamliner at the same time. In addition there is a two-story supplementary building for storage space and for recreation and common rooms as well as a four-story office block with a special area for the technical equipment in the basement.
The hangar is equipped with state-of-the-art technology: for example, it has two craneway facilities for the transportation of propulsion units and empennages, five supply ducts for the technical equipment - the so-called floor pits -, a heating system in combination with a floor heating system and a door air duct as well as a most advanced fire technology with a foam extinguishing system that covers the entire area. The subject of energy saving has also been taken into account. A photovoltaic system measuring 1,269 square meters is installed on the roof of the hangar and has been put into operation at the end of 2008 already. For a period of 20 years up to 2,737,442 kWh can be fed into the public mains network. A further positive side effect: Up to 2,475 tonnes of CO2 can be avoided in this way.
(c) Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation. Date posted: 04-May-09
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Dusseldorf Airport celebrates for two big reasons 
