The Munich Security Conference is an annual conference on international security policy that is been held in Munich, Bavaria, Germany since 1963. Over the past four decades the Munich Security Conference has become the most important independent forum for the exchange of views by international security policy decision-makers. Each year it brings together about 350 senior figures from more than 70 countries around the world. The list of attendees includes heads of states, governments and international organizations, ministers, members of parliament, high-ranking representatives of armed forces, science, civil society, as well as business and media. The conference is held annually in February. The venue is the Hotel Bayerischer Hof in Munich, Bavaria, Germany.

Of course all these VIP’s arrive at Munich Franz Josef Strauβ airport (MUC). During the days of the conference a lot of (semi) government airplanes can be seen. The biggest delegation, as can be estimated, was from the United States with no less than 3 C-32’s and various C-40’s, C-37,s and C-21’s present. With the current multi-crisis in the world a lot of topics were on the agenda like the wars in Ukraine and Israel. Other governments present with their own airplanes, to name a few, were Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Poland, Oman, Jordan, Italy, Azerbaijan, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Serbia, Bulgaria, Denmark, Greece, UK, Gabon, UAE, Germany, Ukraine, Bangladesh and one of the highlights Colombia with a Boeing 737 (1222) from the Colombian Air Force.

I noted during the days I visited (15/18-02-2024) several new Gulfstreams but in a lot of cases just the wrong one appeared unfortunately…. For example somehow I still miss the Polish G550 0001 but I now saw 0002 several times already. But a lot was made up by the visit of a Gulfstream 3 in the morning of the 18^th. I almost cannot remember when I saw a G3 flying in Europe and also it was a new one (N714DS (488), Phoenix Air) for me! It arrived, operating from Stuttgart, in complete fog without being visible and made several approached but did not land. But luckily after the landing and during departure the aircraft was perfectly visible. A real highlight!  

I stayed in the Novotel Munich Airport hotel at the top floor. Nice hotel but parking was very expensive (28 euro a day) and breakfast even more (also 28 euro a day!!). So its better to have breakfast at the airport. They also promised me a room with a view on the airport but did not deliver.
Advantage is that the hotel is close to the S-Bahn (one stop from the airport) and, even better, close to the Besucherpark (10 minutes’ walk). This park on the western site of the airport has some great facilities. Main attraction is the huge spotters hill with great views on the airport (entrance access fee is 1 euro cash money). Furthermore a shop, restaurant and toilets can be found as also some nice preserved airplanes. Depending on the runway use I stayed at the spotters hill or at the visitor terrace in Terminal 2 of the airport (free access). This terrace gives views (through windows) on arriving airplanes and a small part of the general aviation area.  

Gulfstreams noted: 01-0029, 01-0030, 7T-VPC, N650VC, HZ-KSGA, 04-1778, 01, TC-ATA, HZ-SK3, N692GD, N232G, D-ABMR, 18-1947, 0002, A4O-AE, VQ-BNZ, I-ANIG, N502P, 4K-AI88, OE- LTF, N653FX, N714DS, PS-RSM.