Munich Franz Josef Strauss Airport (MUC) Flights & Flight Status

Alongside Istanbul and Rome Fiumicino, Munich Airport is the only other European airport to earn a five star Skytrax rating. Its full official name is Munich Franz Josef Strauss International, but you’ll mostly hear it called München Airport after the German name for Munich.

It’s a big, sprawling and always busy airport that serves as a major transfer hub for many regional central and northern European destinations. Opened in the 1990s, it’s also modern, well designed and, most of the time, the epitome of German efficiency. Yet it also has flair – never more so than during Christmas when it’s home to a lovely outdoor Christmas market.

Airlines and terminals

At its peak, Munich Airport handled 48 million travellers a year and is on its way to hitting that figure again, reaching 37 million in 2023. It regularly serves around 90 airlines flying direct routes to 219 destinations across 64 countries.

It has two terminals, both catering to arriving and departing passengers. Terminal 1 is the original, home to all non-Star Alliance airlines with the exception of Turkish Airlines. That includes, among others, American Airlines, British Airways, easyJet, Emirates, Eurowings and Etihad. A huge new satellite terminal is currently under construction, alongside a planned refurbishment of parts of the existing terminal, scheduled to open late 2025.

Terminal 2 opened in 2003 in conjunction with Lufthansa, doubling capacity to 50 million, since expanded with a satellite terminal to increase that further. Alongside Lufthansa, it’s home to all other Star Alliance airlines including Air Canada, Swiss, Thai Airways and United. The two terminals are connected landside by the Munich Airport Centre (MAC), a huge indoor-outdoor business and recreation zone.

Connecting flights and transfers

Your transfer route will vary based on where you’re flying from and to. There’s a free shuttle bus for transfers between terminals 1 and 2, clearly signposted from connecting gates. The bus takes around five minutes and comes every 10 or so minutes during daytime hours. The few times I’ve used it, it’s been on time and had plenty of space.

You may connect solely through Terminal 2, especially if you’re flying with Star Alliance partners, but it’s important to pay attention to your gate. If you need to transfer to or from Gates J, K or L, you’ll need to take the underground shuttle as these are in the Terminal 2 satellite. The shuttle is free, takes about a minute and runs every four minutes like clockwork.

Remember that if you’re flying between Schengen and Non-Schengen destinations, you’ll need to go through passport control. In some cases you may also have to go through security, so check before you fly and factor in time if needed. Transfers are usually slick and well handled so an hour should be okay, but two is better – and there’s plenty to keep you entertained in any downtime.

Getting to and from Munich

With its two terminals and runways, the airport is far too big to live within Munich’s city limits. Located around 22 miles northeast of the city centre, it’s well connected by all manner of transport but the commute still takes around an hour. This has been a source of constant discontent and many proposals have been put forward to build a faster transport system, but none has yet come to fruition.

Taxi

As always, there are taxi ranks directly outside both terminals plying routes all over the city and beyond. Although convenient, they are eye-wateringly expensive compared to public transport. On my last visit, my train from Munich was cancelled and I had no option but to take a taxi from the central station – it cost more than the flight I was booked on to London.

Train

Train is the fastest and easiest route into Munich, with the airport station conveniently located beneath the MAC between terminal entrances. There’s also another station at the Besucherpark (Visitor’s Park), just outside the airport.

The S-Bahn train has two lines running into the city centre – the S1 and S8 – each departing every 20 or so minutes and taking around 45 minutes to get to Marienplatz. The S1 runs through Munich’s northwestern suburbs and comes into the city from the west. The S8 comes in from the east. Both stop at the city’s three major stations and run all day from 4 am until 1.30 am.

Bus

The Lufthansa Express bus is another quick and direct route into the city centre, although it can be dependent on traffic. It leaves every 20 minutes and stops off at Munich North (Schwabing) and the central station on its 45-minute, 365-day-a-year perpetual loop.

You don’t have to fly Lufthansa to take its bus. But if you are, and you’re staying in nearby Nuremberg or Innsbruck, you can take advantage of its connected Express service. This synchronises your flight and bus ticket with one collective check-in, bag drop on the bus, and a guarantee that your transfer will make your flight.

For other long distance options, the ubiquitous Flixbus has several routes running from Terminal 2 to destinations all over Germany and into the rest of Europe. Or you can take the regional 635 bus to Freising railway station and connect to the regional rail network, but that’s a fiddly and stuttering route.

Car hire

You’ll find all the usual major agencies at the rental car centre, directly next to the escalators going down to the train station in the MAC. All the agencies keep their cars on site in the numerous nearby car parks, so are easy and convenient to access. Once you’ve picked up your car, the A92 and A9 motorways are on your doorstep, ready to deliver you into the magic of Bavaria beyond.

Check in, bag drop and security

Check in is a slightly different affair to the norm at Munich, as there’s no one large central departures area for Terminal 1. Instead, it’s divided into five areas – A to F – with each essentially operating as a self-contained terminal complete with its own facilities. Areas A and D are for departures and arrivals within Schengen, B and C for Non-Schengen, and E is for arrivals only. Area F is set apart and handles routes that typically have increased security requirements. Terminal 2 takes a much more traditional approach with a singular check in and bag drop area for all.

Munich is one of the few airports where I’ll often have to drop off luggage, as I pass through it at least once a year with skis on my way to the German and Austrian Alps. The Terminal 1 setup may sound a little convoluted, but I think it works well. Crowds are kept to a minimum and even if you do have to queue, it doesn’t have the mayhem of so many airport check-in areas. Be prepared to walk though, as distances between departure areas are long, with A, E and F a good 10 to 15 minutes from the MAC.

I’ve never encountered any major issues at the typical security chokepoints in either terminal. Happily, Munich Airport is embracing the future and has already installed several new 3D smart scanners in Area D of Terminal 1 and the single security zone of Terminal 2. Here, liquids and laptops can stay in bags and passage through security is sped up significantly. Hopefully, they’ll be rolled out to all gates soon.

Shopping, eating and entertainment

The layout of Terminal 1 with its independent mini terminals means that much of the best shopping and eating is done landside in the MAC. Across the airport there are around 150 shops and 60 restaurants, but once you’re through security, you’ll be restricted to what’s on offer in that specific area. So if you’re flying from Terminal 1 area A, you can’t access the facilities of areas B to F. Terminal 2 has a more traditional layout.

The MAC has everything you need though. Indoors, you’ll find a range of German speciality shops like Käfer for regional souvenirs and delicacies, Lloyd leather goods and the FC Bayern store. Restaurants range from fast food to full-service Bavarian brauhaus. Mountain Hub Gourmet in the on-site Hilton Hotel is Germany’s only Michelin-starred airport restaurant.

I try to make a point of stopping off at the Erdinger bar on morning flights for a traditional Bavarian breakfast of weißbier und weißwurst – a white beer and white sausage with pretzel and mustard. Delicious! For more beer, head to Airbräu, the world’s first in-airport brewery. This is Germany after all.

The outside MAC Forum area that connects the terminals is a fantastic venue for events. The Christmas market is brilliant from mid-November to New Year, but I’ve also seen BMX and even a surf competition held there in the summer. For even more outside fun, the vast Visitor’s Park next to the airport is a destination in its own right. It offers a cinema and exhibition centre, historic aircraft to explore and best of all a fantastic observation hill to watch planes taking off and landing.