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Press release
- 26.11.2008
- Opening ceremony for Airport Plaza
The New Hamburg Airport opens for business
Around 600 invited guests at opening ceremony for Airport Plaza
Ready for take-off: with the opening of the Airport Plaza, the New Hamburg Airport is complete. The Airport Plaza links the two terminals and is home to the central security checkpoint with a total of 16 aviation security control stations. The baggage transporta-tion systems from T1 and T2 will also be connected in the Plaza. A marketplace for lead-ing brands awaits passengers when they enter the Airport Plaza: a total retail area of 4,450 square metres, most of which is in the security controlled area and so exclusively open to passengers, is home to around 40 shops. Passengers’ physical needs will be taken care of by a food court area, some 2,630 square metres in size. After a construc-tion period of around two years – the foundation stone was laid on 16 August, 2006 – and eight days before it enters operation on 4 December, the new building was officially opened at an opening ceremony today.
Michael Eggenschwiler, CEO of Hamburg Airport, and Claus-Dieter Wehr, Managing Di-rector of Hamburg Airport, invited around 600 guests to the official opening ceremony in the Airport Plaza. Speakers were Senator Axel Gedaschko, Minister of Economy & La-bour in the Free & Hanseatic City of Hamburg, Dr Werner Marnette, Minister for Science, Economy & Transport in the state of Schleswig-Holstein, Reiner Schränkler, CEO of HOCHTIEF Concessions GmbH, and the architect, Professor Meinhard von Gerkan. Footballing legend Uwe Seeler, Hamburg entrepreneur Dr Michael Otto, the US General Consul Karen E. Johnson and many others sent their best wishes by video. Guests included members of the European Parliament, the German Bundestag, the cabinet and assembly of the Free & Hanseatic City of Hamburg, and the state parliament of Schleswig-Holstein. CEOs and board members from major Hamburg companies and the retail and aviation sectors were also in attendance. Judith Rakers hosted an entertaining programme, of which the undoubted highlight was an act, prepared especially for the occasion, by Barbara Schöneberger, Stefan Gwildis and Joja Wendt.
Michael Eggenschwiler, CEO of Hamburg Airport, thanked the architects, engineers and all those involved in the construction project, along with tenants, concessionaires, neighbours and staff. “Efficient, beautiful, modern – that is our airport today. I could also say: ‘The Airport is finished!’ The gleaming Airport Plaza represents the completion of the overall architectural concept. Functionality meets aesthetics. Both for passengers and for staff, Hamburg Airport is characterised by comfort and ease. Comfort, because the atmosphere is right. Ease, because the walking distances are short and it is easy to find your way.” He continued, “Hamburg Airport is the airport for Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein, and we are proud of that. And we have expanded our catchment area into Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony and Denmark – the many vehicle license plates from out of town to be seen in our car parks reflect this success.”
The Airport Plaza: marketplace for top brands and ...
The New Hamburg Airport is northern Germany’s gateway to the world, and the Airport Plaza presents passengers with an exquisite marketplace for top brands. Once they have passed through the central security checkpoint, passengers enter the Plaza, where around 40 shops await, including the classic Travel Value & Duty Free product range as well as newspapers and magazines, toys, fashion and electronics. With 1,400 square metres of floor space, Heinemann Duty Free will be the largest shop in the Airport Plaza, carrying such brands as Bulgari and Burberry. The shop will also offer a Passen-ger Service Counter where passengers can obtain information on departure times or products and can collect items ordered in advance by telephone or online. The Nuance Group, one of the world‘s market leaders in travel retail, will be opening a total of eleven exquisite shops in the Airport Plaza, including the Temptation Shop, selling high quality watches, bags, sunglasses and fashion jewellery, along with shops selling such leading brands as Paul & Shark, Marc O’Polo, Escada, Porsche Design and many more. For the first time at a German airport, passengers will be able to use the new “print on demand” service In the "k presse + buch" store in the Airport Plaza: customers can choose from around 700 international daily newspapers and have the current edition of their favourites printed for them immediately in newspaper format on special paper – from the Washington Post to the Shanghai Daily or the Sydney Morning Herald.
A new food court operated by Marché International, will take care of passengers' physical needs in a single, central location. There will be a Marché™ Natural Bakery, a Cindy’s Diner with fresh burgers, a Mövenpick Coffee Bar, and a San Pino pizza and salad outlet. Marché International will also operate a Gosch Sylt Restaurant under li-cense, spoiling guests with high quality fish specialties.
... offices with runway
Travel connections to the whole world, the well-established infrastructure of the airport, and the high potential customer base make the Airport Plaza an attractive office loca-tion. The office blocks flanking the Airport Plaza offer 2,900 square metres of office space. Available in configurations ranging from individual offices to complete floors, this office space is also attractive for industries not directly associated with aviation. The size and equipment levels can be configured according to tenants’ requirements. For this reason, the offices remain will initally be offered in enhanced basic condition. This includes, for example, air conditioning in all offices and leading edge communications technology including VLAN, WLAN and VoIP. All offices are also equipped with noise-proof windows.
End of the 350 million euro expansion programme
The Airport Plaza is the final milestone in the HAM 21 project. HAM 21: the name repre-sents Hamburg Airport’s largest ever expansion and modernisation project, an invest-ment of some 350 million euros. A new terminal, new, broadened access roads directly in front of the terminals and the extended Passenger Pier are just some of the mile-stones that have been passed in the creation of the New Hamburg Airport. The Airport Plaza will complete the entire concept of the New Hamburg Airport and close the gap between Terminal 1 and Terminal 2. Both the Airport Plaza and the two passenger ter-minals are characterised by spaciousness, clarity and simplicity of design, and robust materials. The Airport Plaza has a total surface area of 4,900 square metres; over seven storeys, this represents a total floor space of 33,000 square metres. Mathematically speaking, you could fit six football pitches inside the Plaza.
At peak times, as many as 130 people were employed in the structural shell construction phase of the Airport Plaza. They turned around 21,000 cubic metres of concrete and 3,400 tonnes of reinforcing steel, along with five steel trusses weighing in at 62 tonnes of steel each, into the structural shell of the Plaza. The completion of the roof construc-tion involved fitting some 480 panes of glass, making up the 5 skylights and covering an area of 1,100 square metres. Between these glass areas, a total surface of 3,900 square metres was covered with aluminium and trapezoidal sheeting. The interior fitting in-volved up to 400 construction workers on-site at any given time.