This time next year a brand new European international hub airport will be marking its first day of operation. Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER) is due to formally open on June 3, 2012 at which stage it will take over as the principal gateway into Germany’s capital city. In the last year Berlin Airports handled 22.3 million passengers at Schoenefeld and Tegel, a figure that has almost doubled over the past eight years, and it has already fulfilled the targets it had established for its opening, namely reaching the 22 million passenger milestone and the establishment of 12 long-haul routes. “This shows that we are on track with our efforts to establish Berlin as an air traffic location,” said Prof. Dr. Rainer Schwarz, CEO of Berlin Airports. “BER is a unique, historic opportunity for Berlin and Brandenburg.”
For eight consecutive years Berlin Airports has exceeded the German traffic growth average and this has enabled it to consolidate its position as the third largest city for air traffic. This growth shows no signs for stopping either, with traffic up by double digits across the first four months of this year. Its most recent expansion has been on medium- and long-haul routes outside of Europe, where traffic increased by more than a quarter. The European market reported a healthy increase of 8.3 per cent, with London seeing the largest rise of 21.8 per cent. The domestic market was a little flatter with just a 1.6 per cent increase in traffic.
This summer Berlin Airports has regular links to 164 destinations across 54 countries, with these routes being served by 88 different airlines. A total of 13 new cities are now being served, including Amman, Basel, Linz, Novosibirsk, Rimini and Vilnius, while frequencies have been boosted on a number of existing flights. Local carrier airberlin has played a key role in the recent growth and the carrier, soon to become a full member of the oneworld global airline alliance, is already working on developing a hub concept in Berlin in preparation for the opening of the new airport. “BER offers airlines a first-class traffic hub – with short transfer times, good service, an adjoining conference centre and the licence to grow”, promised Schwarz.
The new facility will also provide the necessary capacity for growth with the scope to handle up to 45 million passengers, double the current number being flown through the city’s two airports. “BER will put Berlin back on the world map in terms of air traffic”, stressed Schwarz, “and while the region will gain the state-of-the-art airport it so desperately needs and deserves, we will gain direct access to markets and people the world over.”
The new airport will cover an area of 1,470 hectares, the equivalent of 2,000 football pitches and like most new airports it will have a midfield terminal located between two runways, which are sufficiently far apart for simultaneous operations. Some key milestones will be completed on the project across the coming months and are due for completion in time for a six month period of pre-opening trials, which will run from late November.
Aviation executives and network planners from the world’s airlines and airports will be able to get a glimpse into the future of Berlin’s new airport when the German city and Berlin Airports host this year’s World Routes forum. The event will take place between October 2 and 5 and will see delegates from more than 300 airlines and 800 airports descend upon the city. For more information on the event please click here, or to learn more about Berlin Airports’ growth and plans for this year’s conference click here to watch an EXCLUSIVE video interview with Simon Miller, Senior Consultant Airline Marketing, Berlin Airports.
For more of this week's news and analysis please click here to read The HUB.
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