When will Berlin’s airport be cleared for landings?
Q I’m confused. The new Berlin Brandenburg airport opens on 31 October 2020. But Ryanair are selling flights from East Midlands, Manchester and Stansted to Berlin from 25 October 2020. How can they sell flights to an airport that is not open?
Howard M
A The much-delayed new airport for the German capital is, as you say, due to open on the last day of the month. Berlin Brandenburg Airport Willy Brandt, to give it the full name, has been in development since 1996. It was originally due to open in 2011, but catastrophic planning and construction blunders have delayed the launch by almost a decade – as well as pushing costs above €10bn (£9.1bn).
Among the many missteps was a vision of BER (as it will be coded) as a hub airport to rival Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Paris CDG and London Heathrow – even though it appears almost all traffic will be “point-topoint”, and mainly on budget airlines such as Ryanair, easyJet and Eurowings.
The location is adjacent to Schonefeld airport (coded SXF), the gateway for the old East Berlin, which for around 20 years has served as the low-cost airport for the German capital – with Ryanair one of the primary customers. The existing SXF runway is part of the new airport complex and, even when BER opens, the old Schonefeld terminal will continue to function. The new airport authority says: “With the start of the winter flight schedule on 25 October 2020, Schonefeld SXF airport will become Terminal 5 of BER.” So in a sense passengers from those UK airports will be pioneers.
Fares on Ryanair are currently very low: Manchester to Berlin on “opening day” is £18.30, with Stansted at £33. On the following day, 26 October, £10 will get you from East Midlands to BER. But bear in mind the increasingly strict German quarantine rules. At present you must quarantine if you have been anywhere in the UK apart from the midlands and south of England in the past 14 days, and this may be extended to the whole country.
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