Ladies and gentlemen, Federal Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee, State premiers Prof. Georg Milbradt and Prof. Wolfgang Böhmer, Respected guests, Members of the state, federal and European parliaments, Carsten Spohr, Peter Kruse, Mr Reinboth, The assembled company, Users, supporters and designers of Leipzig/Halle airport, Guests and members of staff,

Following the speech by Eric Malitzke, I would like to add my warm greetings from the executive board and supervisory board at the Central German Airports Group.

We have all gathered here to complete a remarkable feat.
We are transforming a passive and immobile piece of real estate into an active, vibrant asset today.

Is this some kind of magic? – Not at all!

We are simply helping the mobility of our business region to develop to enable the greatest possible levels of productivity. This is the destiny of the new southern runway at Leipzig/Halle. It will get things moving. It will fulfil an idea … to benefit Central Germany, its economy and the people in Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt. In this sense it is a highly significant event.

The completion of this project is partly the result of a visionary desire to shape the future on the part of our shareholders – the governments of Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt and the cities and communities involved.
The message is simple: the region is being equipped for the future – which primarily means that the outline conditions for this have been provided. Infrastructure is the first issue, for mobility and networking are the basis of any economic activity. And this is a huge undertaking!

But far-sightedness also involves risks and requires a sense of courage. Our shareholders have both – far-sightedness and courage. Thank God.

Our development at the Central German Airports Group is being carefully monitored everywhere and we have received plenty of support as we seize the opportunities in the air cargo sector. We very much appreciate this.

But the new runway is also partly the result of diligent and solid planning…
…and the diligent work carried out by many men and women on administrative bodies, the building companies involved, the engineering firms and the companies that are part of the Central German Airports Group.

I would like to express my gratitude to all those involved. I would particularly like to include our state premiers and my predecessor, Volkmar Stein. This project has been a priority issue for them and they have got things moving. We can now put behind us the huge efforts made in the past.

Ladies and gentlemen: structures reflect the age and spirit, which gave birth to them.
I particularly like Central Germany, because people here were never particularly keen on military fame. And they were not especially successful at winning battles either.

Augustus the Strong, for example, largely stuck to his principle of repaying evil with good – as seen in his “Round Table of Anti-Temperate Persons”.
Spreading good got him much further in life and benefited some people very much.

For this reason and many others, there are many wonderful stone testimonies to the good old days in the region, which – if they did not survive the war – are being restored now, looked after or even rebuilt: the Church of Our Lady and magnificent baroque buildings in Dresden, residential property or the majestic Reichsgericht Building in Leipzig or the architectural references to Bach and Handel in Leipzig and Halle. Or just consider the Bauhaus buildings in Dessau…
It is a fact. Buildings give expression to this region. Its strengths have always lain in the wealth of ideas in great minds.

I would be delighted if in this sense this runway made its own mark: as a horizontal construction with vertical ambitions – allowing a boom and growth to take place. This is its destiny.
The Romans built aqueducts, which still underline their grand infrastructure and a high standard of living 2,000 years later. Of course, we have not aspired to such great heights in building this runway.

But we are already able to think beyond the short-term quarterly periods that so dominate commercial transactions at the present time. Transport construction projects like this fully operational runway at Leipzig/Halle airport are not planned and built with a view to achieving short-term returns on investments.

Rather it is our aim at this airport to provide businesses with links to the world markets in 20, 50 or even 100 years and ensure

• that the shelves in shops are filled with attractive goods,
• and useful items are delivered to properties by the logistics companies based here,
• people can travel to recuperate and managers can fly to seal business deals and obtain orders, which create jobs.

So this is a construction project that will be a lasting feature in the 21st century!

The completion of this section of the construction work, which we are celebrating today, also creates the framework for the huge commitment made to this traffic hub by Deutsche Post World Net.
DHL will soon begin operations here at its third world hub for express services – after Wilmington in the USA and Hong Kong. The countdown is going according to plan.

And we are also looking forward to the equally strong presence of Lufthansa Cargo AG, which will base several large capacity aircraft at Leipzig when this hub is opened.

So we are proud to announce to all four quarters of the globe today that Germany now has another complete, highly efficient transport hub linking road, rail and air traffic.

It has all the advantages one could wish for – it is ideally located at the heart of Europe geographically and strategically and it has all the technology required to operate 24 hours a day on 365 days a year! P>

So we would like to take this opportunity of issuing an invitation to every airline, the logistics sector and tourist companies: seize the opportunity and come, for you will be able to develop your potential here in every respect! We have committed people, space, slots and plenty of ideas for you!

As a result of the close relations between Leipzig/Halle and Dresden, where the runway is also being rebuilt, Central Germany now has a very attractive airport system. And its vibrancy extends far beyond the catchment areas of the two cities.

We are one of the winners of globalisation.

In good flying tradition, I would like to wish the new southern runway many happy landings – and of course just as many take-offs.

Thank you very much.