Aeronautics Industry

Berlin-Brandenburg now ranks among the top three aeronautics locations in Germany. Nowhere else in the country are so many novel products and processes being invented, developed and marketed as in the German Capital Region. This is down to Berlin-Brandenburg’s industrial structure, which is made up of both innovative SMEs and global players such as Rolls-Royce (Dahlewitz), MTU (Ludwigsfelde) and Lufthansa Technik (Schönefeld).

The Brandenburg-based companies boast special expertise in jet engineering and turbine development and maintenance. Rolls-Royce’s Mechanical Test Operations Centre (MTOC, Dahlewitz), which tests all types of turbines, is particularly worth a mention. Moreover, a dense network of R&D facilities exists in Brandenburg and collaborates with industry businesses to drive the region’s aeronautics expertise forward.

About 100 aeronautics companies with around 7,100 employees operate facilities in Berlin-Brandenburg. Together with the general aviation staff at the airports, the industry provides around 17,000 jobs in the region.

In 2015, the aeronautics industry exported goods “made in Brandenburg” for around € 2.24 billion. This industry thus makes up approximately 5 % of Brandenburg’s total exports.

Brandenburg also boasts core expertise in aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul, as well as in the testing, development and production of small aircraft. Moreover, famous training facilities exist in the region, while various businesses and research facilities are involved in four large-scale European aeronautics projects (Galileo, A 380, A 400 M and A 350 XWB).

The number of passengers at the region’s two current airports, Tegel and Schönefeld, broke the 32-million barrier for the first time in 2016, making the location number three among Germany’s commercial airports and number thirteen in Europe.

Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg

Department of Aerodynamics and Fluid Mechanics
Focus on: jet engineering, aeroacoustics, development of flow diagnostic processes, miniaturised flow measurement methods, reduced gravity aircraft.

Department of Jet Engine Design
Focus on: vibration measurement methods, analytical/computerised processing of lightweight structures, FEM simulation.

Department of Polymer Materials
Focus on: cross-linked polymers (reactive resins and duromers) for applications in various industries, including aerospace, ICT and instrumentation.

Department of Structure Mechanics and Vehicle Vibrations
Focus on: lightweight, fibre-reinforced and sandwich composites, calibration methods for high-pressure compressor blades, the influence of production tolerances on blade vibration, silicon process simulation.

Department of Technical Acoustics
Focus on: aeroacoustic wind tunnel, silent flight of owls, analysis of blade noise, microphone array measurement, high-frequency sound propagation.

Department of Technical Mechanics and Vehicle Dynamics
Focus on: modelling, virtual prototyping, hardware-in-the-loop simulation/optimisation.

Department of Combustion Engines and Aircraft Propulsion
Focus on: research on flow inside cylinders and air/fuel mixture in direct injection petrol engines, turbo engines (interaction of platform cooling and secondary flow, coolant efficiency and flows in zones with delayed main flow, cascade analysis using Reynolds number, improvement of laser particle image velocimetry for flow visualisation).

Technische Hochschule Wildau (FH)

Degree course in Aeronautics and Aviation Logistics
Focus on: operation of commercial and business aircraft, airport/airfield management, jet engine production, improvement of aircraft, passenger, luggage and freight check methods, maintenance of ground facilities.