Airport boss Lütke Daldrup is clear that the construction of the capital city BER is no fame. This is one of the reasons why the "laughing stock" should start operating at the end of October without pomp or glory. The aviation industry doesn't feel like celebrating at the moment.
Due to the years of delays, the Berlin airport manager Engelbert Lütke Daldrup is not planning a big celebration for the upcoming opening of the new large airport. Due to the problems with the construction of BER, Berlin and all of Germany have become a "laughing stock". "We German engineers were ashamed," said the manager. The increase in costs from around 2.7 billion to just under 6 billion euros is also unacceptable. That's why you can't boast about the project. "There's no big party. We just open up."
After the groundbreaking in 2006, the opening of the airport planned for 2011 has been postponed again and again. In the afternoon of October 31, planes from the British low-cost airline Easyjet and the Lufthansa Group will land at BER at the same time. Because of the corona crisis, according to Lütke Daldrup, the airport company FBB will need an additional 260 million euros from the owners Berlin, Brandenburg and the federal government in 2020.
How much the public sector will have to add in the coming years will depend heavily on the course of the virus pandemic and the consequences for air traffic. However, the manager emphasized: "We need support by 2024." The Corona crisis poses major problems for airlines and airports and is causing "the greatest crisis in air traffic since the Second World War". The number of passengers in Berlin is likely to drop to a quarter of the usual size in the coming winter half-year.
Swipe at Lufthansa
"We fear that it will take until 2024 to reach the level before the crisis of 2019." This year, the number of passengers at Tegel and Schönefeld airports will collapse to around ten million – from 36 million in 2019. The inner city airport Tegel, which is particularly popular with West Berliners, is due to close on November 8th, Schönefeld will be integrated into BER as Terminal 5.
The German Institute for Economic Research – DIW – is meanwhile bringing partial privatization for BER into play. "Experience with the construction of the airport shows that the state cannot do everything better, but that it depends on a clever partnership between the state and private companies in order to successfully implement such an important major project," DIW President Marcel Fratzscher told the Handelsblatt ". Involving private companies could help establish the airport "as an international hub on an equal footing, at least with Munich Airport".
Lütke Daldrup only said that the owners would have to decide. The airport boss called for more long-haul flights for the capital's airport and more landing rights for foreign airlines. "If airlines get a lot of help from the state, then you shouldn't just think of hubs in Frankfurt and Munich," said Lütke Daldrup in a swipe at Lufthansa. The airline must be saved from collapse with nine billion euros in taxpayers' money.
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