Berlin Airport Passenger Numbers Plunged by Three-Quarters in 2020

Jan. 4—BERLIN — Berlin's airports experienced a "horror year" in 2020, when passenger numbers plummeted by around three-quarters to just 9.1 million people, according to airport operators.

Little improvement is expected this year, when 10-11 million passengers are expected to fly via Berlin.

Last year brought a long-awaited overhaul to the German capital's air travel infrastructure. The new BER airport opened on October 31 on the city's south-eastern outskirts, adjacent to Schoenefeld Airport, which has now been incorporated into the new site as Terminal 5.

Soon after, the more central Tegel Airport, located in the city's north, was closed to the public.

The coronavirus pandemic is only the latest chapter in BER airport's troubled launch. It was opened nine years behind schedule and a series of planning gaffes caused the project's original budget of 2 billion euros (around 2.5 billion dollars) to roughly triple.

"The year 2020 was a year of extremes, it was a success and a horror year all at once," said Engelbert Luetke Daldrup, chief executive at the state-backed Berlin Brandenburg Airport company.

"We will have to put up with at least one more year of significant losses amid low passenger numbers," he warned.

Luetke-Daldrup noted that the operator needs 20 million passengers this coming year — around double the current projection — in order to cover its costs.

"We will only return to pre-crisis levels again in 2024 or 2025," he said.

In 2019, Schoenefeld and Tegel airports processed almost 36 million passengers between them.

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