Berlin-Brandenburg Airport is still only a feeder for intercontinental connections. This is ridiculous and massively harms tourism and the labor market in our city, says Gunnar Schupelius
Now the time after Corona begins. Air traffic is constantly increasing. And suddenly a problem that was almost forgotten during the lockdown comes to the fore again: Berlin is not directly connected to international air traffic.
While all other capitals in the world are connected by long-distance routes, from Berlin you first have to land in Frankfurt, Munich or Düsseldorf to reach other continents.
The direct connection to New York was also discontinued long ago. United Airlines wanted to resume traffic on March 4, but the inaugural flight was postponed and is now scheduled for March 28. On May 6, the American airline also wants to offer a direct flight to Washington.
Not much more is to be expected. Currently only Qatar (Doha), the United Arab Emirates (Dubai) and Singapore are served internationally by BER, but only by foreign airlines. The big German airline doesn’t show up in the capital in this respect, but it should stay that way. Airport boss Aletta von Massenbach confirms this: “Lufthansa itself will probably not be flying long-haul routes from Berlin in the foreseeable future.”
Lufthansa has connections in Frankfurt, Munich and Zurich, and wants to use these locations to capacity, but rejects another hub in Berlin. Air Berlin was the hope for a long time instead, but the airline went bankrupt before the delayed opening of BER, perhaps even because of the long delay.
So the ridiculous situation remains that we wait in vain for direct connections that are offered to us from abroad. The BER remains a feeder like Bremen or Nuremberg. This is exactly what the Greens wanted with their top candidate Künast in the 2011 Berlin election campaign. In doing so, they forgot that direct connections are more environmentally friendly than stopovers, which consume a lot of kerosene.
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Direct flights all over the world are also indispensable for tourism, which Berlin urgently needs again, and also for jobs: According to calculations by Berlin’s business associations, a single direct intercontinental connection can create up to 250 new company relationships.
The Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK) therefore repeatedly called for the Governing Mayor Giffey (SPD) and Brandenburg’s Prime Minister Woidke (SPD) to campaign for more direct connections. Giffey has not yet committed to this and Woidke has preferred to fight for a flight ban after 10 p.m. rather than for more flights around the world.
So should BER remain a provincial airport? Yes, that’s what it looks like.
Is Gunnar Schupelius right? Call: 030/2591 73153 or email: [email protected]