Of all the ways to describe an airport, comparing it to a train might seem one of the more unusual - but for Dr Michael Kerkloh it's a perfect analogy for the dramatic drive Munich Airport (MUC) gives to its local economy.
"Consider the airport as being like a locomotive for economic growth or as a support to the health of the region, attracting new industries, not just those with a direct bearing on the airport, such as cargo operators, currency providers, tourism and the hotel industry," explains Kerkloh.
As an airport's route network, passenger traffic and revenues grow, so the train speeds up and the rest of the region also picks up momentum, argues Kerkloh, and by that rationale Munich Airport is going hell for leather.
Last year the airport reported a 6% increase in passengers to almost 35 million, cementing its place as the seventh busiest airport in Europe, while traffic for the first half of 2011 was 13% higher.
In terms of freight, Munich shifted 275,000 tonnes of cargo in 2010, an increase of nearly a third and revenues were also rosy - operator Flughafen Mu╠ênchen GmbH (FMG) saw record profits of €125 million last year.
All this may go some way to explaining Munich Airport's wide-ranging contribution to the economies of its city, the state of Bavaria and even Germany itself.
In 2009 there were 549 companies and public-sector entities located at the airport with a total workforce of 29,560 employees directly working on site and some 37% of employees lived in the immediate surrounding region in 2010.
Companies that have clustered at or near the airport include those in the fields of IT, high-tech, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, media and logistics, including big-name brands such as Siemens, BMW, Audi, Microsoft, Sony and Amazon. In 2010 the airport contributed some €1.1 billion to the region, including roughly €200 million in tax receipts for the state government.
Kerkloh and his team employ a set of simple mathematical equations to give a rough estimate of the correlation between the airport's operations and its economic impact. "As a rule of thumb 1,000 jobs are created per every 1 million passengers, plus another 1,000 jobs created in the region; we are looking at growth of four to five million passengers in the coming years so 8,000-10,000 jobs is the rough estimate.
"This was the case two years ago before the economic crisis led to the downsizing of our workforce or a freeze on employment, but now with the new economic programme in Germany, there is a high demand for labour and Munich has full employment, which is not the case elsewhere," says the Munich boss.
Another simple equation is that every Euro spent at the airport equals one Euro spent within the region. So why is Munich such an attractive place for companies to locate to and invest in? Of course, connectivity and intermodal links are important, says Kerkloh, but other important considerations are also at work. "Of course, it is no accident that airports tend to attract investment. Airport sites are very stable partners, because even if you
have a competitive environment, the jobs and industries at an airport often cannot be moved.
"If you look at other industries, like textile and mobile phone companies, they sometimes experience very quick growth in those markets and within the companies employing these people. However, once the technology changes the entrepreneurs tend to need to move their businesses, but there will never be such a need to move away from an airport," explains Kerkloh.
The knock-on effect of this stability is that it gives people a sense of job security and Munich has seen an influx and retention of highly skilled labour.
Munich Airport, the world's 30th busiest gateway, has some 100 airlines, operates to some 242 destinations globally and has connections to many of the major urban and commercial centres on every continent.
Some 90% of all long-haul flights to and from Germany are handled through the two hubs of Frankfurt and Munich, while plans for the construction of a satellite facility at Terminal 2 and a third runway have been announced at Munich.
These far-reaching global linkages have had a profound effect on the economic impact of the airport and can be directly traced to the start of new commercial ventures or companies deciding to locate to the airport.
"Before, we had no direct flights to India, but now there is a considerable Indian business presence. Since flights started to Mumbai and Delhi, Indian entrepreneurs find those regions attractive, especially when they can cluster around Munich Airport," enthuses Kerkloh.
Another important string to Munich's bow is its emphasis on providing a high standard of service, believes Kerkloh. The airport has won numerous awards for its customer service programme and takes the view that this is an area where it can outperform bigger hubs, such as Heathrow and Paris CDG. "On one level we have sister agreements with airports that we consider to be similar to us in quality terms and airports with similar challenges, such as Denver in the US, Nagoya in Japan, Bangkok in Thailand and Singapore.
"We look at best practice, and also how to develop the role of the airport as a major player in the region. Also, when we do marketing for the airport we work with other major cities, such as Nuremberg and Rheinsberg, to boost the operations they have and this is reciprocated," he explains.
By pursuing a reputation for excellence, Munich Airport is establishing a brand, explains the airport boss, and this brand helps to entice international businesses, whose brands can dovetail with that of MUC.
For example, BMW and Audi both display their products, branding and advertisements prominently in the gateway's two terminals and the airport has pursued a number of successful partnership activities with resident airline Lufthansa.
By its very nature, much of Munich Airport's management team's work involves regular trips to partner airports, to new destinations and to see airlines, and while on these assignments they are encouraged to be 'ambassadors for economic development', extolling the economic and cultural benefits of the home region.
"When we go abroad for a new route we promote Bavarian industries - last year this happened in Russia - then of course we can also show the potential for our industries to invest in Russia," says the long-serving CEO. This, along with the low cost of living in Bavaria compared with many European capital cities, offers a compelling product to attract new companies and investment and Kerkloh is adamant this is the reason the airport doesn't need any governmental incentives to attract investment.
"If you break down the employment impact of Munich Airport, you find a complex mix of high-to low-skilled jobs.
We have a broad range of skills required at the airport, from unskilled like baggage handlers right up to things like a high number of 'egg head' companies which need highly specialised employees, then there is the service part of it and it's all happening as a 24-hour business. Whether they are brought up and educated in Germany or abroad, the region tends to retain much of its skilled and experienced workforce because "they see the long-term macro-economic stability the airport affords," believes Kerkloh.
While the German economy is on a high - it grew by 3.6% last year, a record since reunification - Munich is one of its key economic powerhouses.
The metropolitan region boasts 29 higher education colleges and universities as well as a number of research institutes, with 90,000 companies employing some 363,000 staff. Kerkloh is keen to point out that this is also a strong attractor for investment.
So with a compelling product on offer, how can Munich Airport and its regional partners improve on things? One area is key, says Kerkloh: improving intermodality.
While the airport is well connected by road, it lacks rail links and this is retarding its potential catchment area. "I think that within the context of the climate debate, intermodality is key.
Munich is very much working on high-speed links - we are underperforming in this regard. "It is a key strategy to get this intermodality because the economic impact of the airport is larger than its existing 50km catchment area, it goes all the way to northern Italy, the Czech Republic, Austria and north east Germany, but the catchment can only properly be reached when we have the right road transport and so on,
and it is very important in Europe to have a rail and a high-speed rail network," says Kerkloh.
When the general public use the word 'impact' in the context of an airport, they tend to do so in a negative sense, such as noise and pollution. However, perhaps in these uncertain economic times, the positive contribution of Munich Airport and others will now be considered.
