Berlin Airport Expected to Recover from Travel Curbs by 2025

Jan. 25—BERLIN — The supervisory board of Berlin's newly opened international airport BER expects it will run below capacity for the next few years at least due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

An end to the travel restrictions could only be expected when a Covid-19 vaccine becomes available on a large scale, Engelbert Luetke Daldrup, BER's chief executive, said after a video conference with the board on Monday.

"That is why the airport group expects air travel to recover to pre-crisis levels only in 2025," Daldrup said.

During the meeting, Daldrup told the board the pre-crisis level of 36 million yearly passengers could be reached by 2023 in the best and by 2027 in the worst case scenario.

Until then, BER would still need financial support from its owners, the states of Berlin and Brandenburg, as well as the federal government.

"We as a company will make every effort to work as cost-efficiently as possible until then," Daldrup said.

The airport, which was opened three months ago after years of delays, is currently only hosting a fraction of the passengers it would be expected to have in non-pandemic times.

BER's owners have been informed that the airport will require 660 million euros (801 million dollars) this year to offset financial losses.

Berlin newspaper Tagesspiegel reported that cost-cutting measures could affect the bonuses of the company's executives.

Before the pandemic, BER was already dealing with a funding gap of 375 million euros due to outstanding bills related to its decade-long construction. The pandemic has widened the financial shortfall significantly.

Daldrup had previously said that he wants the airport to break even by 2025.

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