Airport needs billions: BER expects losses by 2034

Wednesday February 10, 2021

Airport needs billions
BER expects losses by 2034

In its 14 years of construction, the capital city BER has become a synonym for ruinous large-scale projects. Accordingly, the relief was great when it finally opened last year – in the middle of the corona crisis. That makes another decade of dry spell likely.

According to information from the "Tagesspiegel", the new capital city airport BER could be in the red for many years to come. A profit is targeted from 2034, it says, citing a document for the supervisory board meeting at the end of January. Almost 3.6 billion euros would have to be provided through guarantees and equity injections. A financial restructuring of the airport company is indicated.

A spokesman for the state-owned company said there were no final figures. The supervisory board will take decisions on the business plan at a two-day meeting in mid-March. Airport boss Engelbert Lütke Daldrup said at the BER opening in October: "We want to be in the black in the mid-1920s. We will see to what extent Corona allows this." After the January meeting, he stated that he expected air traffic to recover in 2025 at the level before the Corona crisis. The Berlin Brandenburg Airport Company (FBB) will continue to need money from the owners until then, the states of Berlin and Brandenburg and the federal government. Partial debt relief is also necessary so that the company can get money back on the capital market.

For this year alone, the company has registered a requirement of 660 million euros. Even before the Corona crisis, there was a gap of 375 million euros in the financial planning for 2021, mainly because bills still have to be paid for the new airport, which cost around 6.5 billion euros.

"You could have built two airports for the high construction costs," criticized the Green housekeeper Sven-Christian Kindler. He called for a relentless cash drop. Finance Minister Olaf Scholz and Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer would have to critically examine the information. "Scholz and Scheuer have too often bought their fairy tales from FBB and didn't look too closely in the hope that everything would be fine after the BER opening," said Kindler.