Nine weeks before the opening of BER on 31 October, last Friday, on 28 August, the airport company’s Supervisory Board mainly dealt with the status of preparations for commissioning. Its main focus was the previous results of the trial runs with volunteers, the successful fire safety and evacuation exercise at the airport railway station and commissioning communication. Another priority was growth over the next few years and the impacts on the airport company’s finances. Henner Bunde attended the Supervisory Board meeting for the first time on behalf of the shareholder Brandenburg.
Opening communications will extend a two-week period, from renaming Schönefeld Airport as “BER Terminal 5” on 25 October to the last flight from Tegel. The airport company’s most important partners are involved in the commissioning phase. The highlight will be 31 October. This is the day on which Terminal 1 will begin operations. An easyJet and Lufthansa aircraft will each land at the same time. Tegel Airport will be given a deserving send off on 8 November. The observation deck at Tegel will be reopened in the last few weeks before flight operations end.
The Supervisory Board discussed preliminary considerations for the 2021 budget for the first time today. As was already the case this year, additional financial requirements must be expected due to the corona crisis and the severe absence of air traffic. The additional financial requirement of EUR 300 million for 2020 passed at the beginning of the pandemic was reduced to around EUR 250 million through drastic austerity measures, such as short-time work, a recruitment freeze and budget cuts.
The development of flight operations for the next year is also very difficult to predict due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Therefore, financial issues will be a key topic at the upcoming Supervisory Board meetings and notably at the Supervisory Board’s closed-door meeting in January.
Rainer Bretschneider, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg GmbH: “BER commissioning is still on the right path. We will be able to keep our word. But the financial challenges posed by the coronavirus will be even more in focus.”
Engelbert Lütke Daldrup, Chief Executive Officer of Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg GmbH: “Unfortunately, it is not possible to reliably predict traffic development for the next few years. We will continue to work on making our processes as efficient and cost-effective as possible. We will need the help of our shareholders for years to come. Commissioning preparations are going well. The last few years of meticulous work is now paying off.”
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