Once again, it has been officially confirmed. The new Berlin Brandenburg International will open the 31 October This is good news for the German capital, which will finally be able to forget the ups and downs that have surrounded the infrastructure since the start of the second millennium. Berlin Brandenburg International will have cost almost seven billion euros 1.7 billion, while its opening will have been postponed seven timesThis is probably the longest delayed airport infrastructure in the world, with a nine-year period. The first opening date was set for autumn 2011.
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This time, everything seems to be proceeding according to the schedule unveiled by the airport authority at the beginning of last year. The best proof of this is provided by the Lufthansa group. Since this week, passengers booking flights to Berlin from November onwards have seen the new ICAO airport code displayed, BER instead of TXL or SXF.
The Lufthansa Group will start serving Berlin from 4 November with the airline Eurowings. The last Lufthansa flight out of Tegel will be from Berlin to Munich on 7 November with the number LH1955. On 8 November, at 6.30 am, flight LH173 will take off from BER for Munich. Frankfurt. On the same date, Austrian Airlines, SWISS and Brussels Airlines will also move to BER. All flights already booked before this week - the date of the update of the reservation system with BER - will be systematically updated with the new code.
The Lufthansa group's move to the new airport is not expected to have a major impact on its business. no impact on flight times or the network offered by all the airlines. The flight times remain the same and nothing new is planned for the time being...
Berlin is part of our identity
" Berlin is part of our identity. Nobody else connects Berlin to the world like we do. Six airlines in the Lufthansa Group serve the German capital, with traffic of up to 33,000 passengers a day. With just one connection, we connect 270 destinations to this city".explained at a press conference Harry Hohmeistermember of the Lufthansa Board of Directors and Commercial Director of the Passenger Airlines segment.
" Berlin needs an efficient airport. This also means better connections between the new airport and local public transport as well as the long-distance rail network. More ICE connections to Rostock, Dresden or Hamburg could boost intermodal traffic, which would be a major advantage. good for passengers and the environment" he said.
According to data from OAG Schedules Analyser, Lufthansa and Eurowings together represent the second largest operator currently at Tegel. In 2019, the market share in seat capacity reached 27.6% behind easyJet with 31.4%. In total, Lufthansa Group airlines offered more than 5.39 million seats from TXL.
Lufthansa and its subsidiaries - with the exception of Eurowings - will be grouped together in Terminal 1 (North Pier), while Eurowings should be in Terminal 2 along with Aer Lingus, Norwegian and Vueling. The traditional airlines and easyJet should also be accommodated in Terminal 1.
A huge Lufthansa lounge with a surface area of around 1,600 m², will welcome the group's business class passengers, as well as travellers with frequent flyer, senator or Star Alliance Gold status.
The old Schönefeld terminal, which currently handles the majority of easyJet and Ryanair flights, will not be closing. On the contrary, it is likely to remain in service until the opening of the future Terminal 3, which should be inaugurated at the end of the decade. It will change its name to Terminal 5. It will mainly be used by Ryanair and charter carriers. The airport authorities have just announced that the areas inside the current terminal will be given new lettering. Zones A, B, C and D will in future be known as K, L, M and Q. Passengers travelling with hand baggage only and already in possession of a boarding pass may use zone Q of the terminal (with express security control).
