Munich-Riem Airport
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Munich-Riem Airport was the main airport of Munich until it was closed in 1992. It was located near the village of Riem in the borough of Trudering-Riem.
Contents |
[edit] History
Construction on the airport started in 1936. The first plane landed on 25 October 1939, signalling the beginning of air traffic. At this time, it was one of the most modern airports in the world. It replaced the airfield located at Oberwiesenfeld (now the site of the Olympic Village).
The airport facilities were almost completely destroyed by bombings on 9 April 1945. Up until that day, civilian air traffic had also been handled in Riem during wartime.
After the end of the war, Munich-Riem was the first airport in Germany to be used for civil aviation. Post-war operations started on 6 April 1948 with the landing of a DC-3 operated by Pan American World Airways.
On 12 October 1949, the Flughafen München-Riem GmbH (Munich-Riem Airport Limited) was founded. Wulf-Dieter Graf zu Castell became one of its managing directors.
The airport's runway was lengthened to 1,900 m in November 1949.
On 6 February 1958, an Airspeed AS 57 Ambassador charter plane crashed soon after take-off. The accident (known as the Munich air disaster) cost the lives of 23 people including eight football players from Manchester United.
On 29 October 1958, the first jet aircraft, a Sud Aviation Caravelle operated by Air France, landed on the runway that had been lengthened by 700 m.
In 1962, more than one million passengers had passed through the airport.
As early as in 1963, the Öchsle Commission initiated a search for a new airport location as it was obvious that further extension would not be legally or politically possible. Constructing additional runways parallel or perpendicular to the existing one would require to relocate a number of nearby communities. A number of accidents further encouraged the decision to build a new airport further away from the city and to close down Riem.
In October 1965, a new maintenance hangar for jets, that had been built at a cost of DM 10 million, was put into operation and transferred to the Deutsche Lufthansa.
In 1969, the Flughafen München-Riem GmbH was renamed Flughafen München GmbH. The main runway (07R/25L) was upgraded to its final length of 2804 m.
In 1971, a new arrivals hall was put into operation, the total passenger throughput having attained 4 milions.
On 31 December 1972, the long-time managing director Wulf-Dieter Graf zu Castell retired.
31 July 1982 saw a bomb attack on the departure area for passengers to Israel. Seven people were severely wounded.
By 1991, the airport had served twelve million passagers. At that time, it operated beyond its intended capacity, and an efficient taxiing system was not possible any more. In order to continue the operations, preliminary annexes to the terminal were built, including a special hall for charter flights.
On 17 May 1992, the whole airport moved over night to a new location near Erding. The IATA airport code MUC and the ICAO airport code EDDM were transferred to the new Munich International Airport, later renamed after former Bavarian minister-president Franz Josef Strauss.
[edit] Reuse
During an interim time after the move, the remaining facilities were used as a venue for large events such as concerts and raves. Riem was well known internationally in the techno, alternative and rock scenes. For example, the last concert of the rock band Nirvana was given there on 1 March 1994. On 17 June 1994, the Ultraschall techno club opened in the former kitchen of the cafeteria.
The transformation of the former airport to the Messestadt Riem with a convention centre, apartments and parks was one of the largest projects in urban planning of the City of Munich in the late 1990s and the beginning of the 21th century. The only structures that remain of the airport today are the tower and the original terminal building, the Wappenhalle (hall of the coats of arms). Both structures are protected monuments. Moreover, a small stretch of the former runway still exists at the eastern end. In 2005, the former airport was the site of the Bundesgartenschau (Federal Horticultural Show).
[edit] References
- This article is based on a translation of an article from the German Wikipedia.
[edit] External links
