Andres Wittermann on international media relations trends

Welcome at Friends - and Europe's best airport

The Football World Cup's tag line here in Germany is "Welcome at Friends" (Willkommen bei Freunden). And now it is official. When you arrive at Munich by plane, you arrive at Europe's best airport. Actually, there is no better airport in the world with the exception of Singapore and Hong Kong (both cities with LEWIS office, by the way) - and Seoul.

I could not agree more. It is the only airport in the world where I always have a car waiting for me.

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I happen to fly from Munich to London on a more or less weekly basis. Very often I am on board of the early Monday morning flight together with a large number of employees of a big Munich-based company. You would not believe how much you can learn during these 90 minutes. I often think if I was a business journalist, that's where I would be looking for an inside story.

People are relaxed, are talking about the weekend and are really happy to share their views on everything (!) with everyone. Also with people who just happen to sit close to them - and probably should not hear what they are saying. Or read their mails - or check their presentations marked CONFIDENTIAL. People tend to think they should always be productive and will use their time on board of a plane to be just that. Sometimes I think they should rather read a good book or sleep - or at least consider who may hear what they are talking about.

Or will this now be the end of my really interesting start into a week on the way to the UK?