Franz Josef Strauss International Airport (IATA: MUC, ICAO: EDDM) is Germany's second largest airport, after Frankfurt, with about 34 million passengers a year, and lies some 30 km (19 mi) north east of the city centre. The airport can be reached by suburban train lines S8 from the east and S1 from the west part of the city. From the Hauptbahnhof (main railway station), the journey takes 40�45 minutes. In 2017, S8 Express will be added and could take 23 minutes with limited stops on dedicated tracks. A magnetic levitation train (called Transrapid) which was to have run at speeds of up to 400 km/h (249 mph) from the central station to the airport in a travel time of 10 minutes had been approved, but was cancelled in March 2008 because of cost escalation. Supporters of the transrapid project founded the organization Bayern pro Rapid in 2007.
The airport began operations in 1992, replacing the former main airport, the Munich-Riem airport (active 1939�1992).
In 2008, the Bavarian state government granted a license to expand the Oberpfaffenhofen Air Station located west of Munich, for commercial use. These plans were opposed by many residents in the Oberpfaffenhofen area as well as other branches of local Government, including the city of Munich, who took the case to court. However, in October 2009, the permit allowing up to 9725 business flights per year to depart from or land at Oberpfaffenhofen was confirmed by a regional judge.
The Memmingen Airport is also called Airport Munich West. After 2005 passenger traffic of nearby Augsburg Airport was relocated to Munich Airport, leaving the Augsburg region of Bavaria without an air passenger airport within close reach.
For its urban population of 2.6 million people, Munich and its closest suburbs have one of the most comprehensive and punctual systems in the world, incorporating the Munich U-Bahn (underground railway), the Munich S-Bahn (suburban trains), trams and buses. The system is
