Sisters in the Sky: Munich and Denver

DENVER - March 12, 2015 - PRLog -- At the end of February, the Denver International Airport celebrated their 20th anniversary of flying people in and out of the city from the actual mountains to the faux snow-capped peaks of DIA's main building. Among the airport's well-wishers for the celebration was a select group of representatives from the Munich Airport, Denver's sister runway in Germany. While they were in town, Munich's  CEO, Dr. Michael Kerkloh, and its Vice President of Human Resources, Theresa Fleidl, sat down with the President of the Colorado chapter of the German American Chamber of Commerce, Peter Einsle, and its Executive Director, Joshua Seeberg, to talk about the partnership, its roots, and its hopes for the future.

When the sister agreement was signed in 1991, neither city actually had the airport that it was betrothing to the other. DIA was not to open for over another four years, following delays that put its final completion date at almost a year and a half behind schedule. Munich was completed quicker, though it was not all that close to finished when the two reached out to one another to form the partnership.

"Our airport opened in 1992, but Denver delegates came over because we were in a more elaborate state of construction," said Kerkloh of the initial interaction.

Though they may be on opposite sides of the world, the similarities between the cities of Denver and Munich formed the basis of the partnership's appeal. They have a high degree of compatibility in their networks, with United Airlines sending lots of flights through Denver and Lufthansa mirroring that in Munich. Both airports are mainly used as hubs, and their proximity to their respective mountain ranges accounts for a fair amount of their traffic.

"We nearly have the same size now, same history, and same type of airport. We both are mountain hubs; Munich for the Alps and Denver for the Rockies. We're both Starlines hubs, [and] we're both new," explained Kerkloh. And of course, the most important point: "We're both beautiful."

Yet the airports - and their style - aren't the only similarity that the cities can boast. The industrial economy of each has a large focus on aerospace, with many important companies and researchers placing their headquarters in both Munich and the Denver metro area. While the attraction of the mountains may draw a lot of travelers, both cities include tourism high on their list of why people choose to visit, whether they plan on partaking in the snowy fun or finding other things to do in the area. And what is Munich known better for than its beer? One of their biggest brewers, Paulaner, houses its U.S. headquarters in Littleton, a city right outside of Denver's limits.

The people in each place also share many of the same concerns, namely where the environment is concerned.

As Dr. Kerkloh put it, "You have sea people, island people; they have a special mindset. You have mountain people, with special requirements also. To preserve nature, for example. There is a big nature movement in Germany as well."

Sustainability and green energy plays a big role in the mindsets of Coloradans, and is one of the driving forces in Munich Airport's yearly project as well. The airport strives to be the greenest in Europe, and each year sets a target to save more energy than it spends with all of its projects.

At one point in time, there was a direct flight connecting these sister airports, though that was shut down and overshadowed by the traffic out of Frankfurt, which remains Germany's busiest airport. The economics in favor of full flights lead to overbooking Frankfurt's planes instead of opening up a new connection out of Munich. If it were to come back in the future, the competition is clear: "Munich-Denver will have to compete, as far as the aircraft capacity is concerned, with Frankfurt-Panama. So we must be better than Frankfurt-Panama," Kerkloh said.

The potential re-development of this route is where the partnership between the two airports can really flourish, demonstrating the modern effects and benefits of the sister agreement that was signed almost 25 years ago.

"What we do is, in the end, we really deepen the relationship by exchanging stuff, by giving the opportunity to learn each other's side, and from time to time also have a common project to develop, like the route development for Munich-Denver," explained Kerkloh of the current state of the partnership.

Another component of the deal is the annual week-long collaboration that each airport participates in. When coming to celebrate DIA's anniversary last week, Kerkloh and Fleidl brought with them a small group of executives and potentials to visit their sister airport and take a look at the way that Denver manages its operation. The trip, called an out-going, is reciprocated by the staff of DIA on the years that Munich doesn't visit. The point of the venture, other than observing the other airport's management and financial models, is to use the collaboration as a source of inspiration for improvement. With both Munich and DIA ranking with Skytrax and ASC as leading airports in their respective regions, constant growth is always a top priority.

Munich Airport has grown substantially during its 23-year tenure, and has its sights set on becoming Europe's first Five Star Airport by Skytrax's audit in 2015. It has already achieved the rank of No. 1 Airport in Europe, as voted through Skytrax by passengers, and holds onto the No. 3 position worldwide, earning it the nicknames of an "Airport City" and the "Best Gateway to Europe."  Located in Bavaria, Germany's most service-oriented state, the main focus is simply to make the hubbing experience as good as possible for travelers of all experience levels.

With any such goal there are multiple components that go into achieving it, but Dr. Kerkloh was able to sum it up in four words: "Quality, innovation, connectivity, and sustainability."

Those are four words that any top competitor can get on board with. So as Munich forges ahead into the ranks of the elite airports, DIA will be right by its side with progress of its own, because what else are siblings for?

(Article by Emma Dell)