The new Berlin Brandenburg International BER is decidedly unlucky. Not only was its opening delayed by a decade, but its debut took place at one of the worst moments in the history of aviation. The covid pandemic continues to have a dramatic effect on passenger demand.
The second wave of covid means a new round of travel restrictions. German Chancellor Angela Merkel's announcements over the weekend are now likely to kill off any hope of recovery between now and the beginning of January.
The Association of German Airports (ADV) is already predicting that passenger traffic in Germany will remain in troubled waters in 2021. The ADV predicts that passenger numbers for the year should reach a third of 2019 traffic levels. For Berlin, this would mean a total of 12.5 million passengers. This compares with 35.6 million passengers in 2019.
Airport management has already anticipated this drop. It has closed Terminal 5 of the hub until further notice. This terminal was reserved for ultra low-cost and charter airlines.
The Lufthansa group consolidates its leading position
Lufthansa's press release on its positioning in Berlin in November also takes on a somewhat triumphalist tone... The Lufthansa Group has already made a positive start. Visit five Group airlines present in Berlin are Lufthansa, Eurowings, Austrian, Swiss and Brussels Airlines. They currently offer approximately 38 % of all BER flights. Out of a total of 1,700 departures and arrivals at the airport in November, the Lufthansa Group carried out around 650 such flights. The group says it offers 400 more flights than the "second largest carrier" at the airport - in this case easyJet.
Lufthansa only offers several daily services to its hubs at Frankfurt and Munich while its low-cost subsidiary Eurowings serves Cologne/Bonn, Düsseldorf and Stuttgart airports up to three times a day. Austrian, Brussels Airlines and Swiss complete the offer with connections to Vienna, Brussels and Zurich.
In fact, the group turned its back on Berlin many years ago.. The idea of establishing a third hub on German soil, which is being pursued by the Berlin regional government, never aroused the enthusiasm of Lufthansa management.
Over the last five years, the airline has even drastically reduced the number of its international destinations from the German capital. The cancellation of the route between Berlin and Paris is just one example.
