With the commissioning of Berlin Brandenburg Airport, Schönefeld Airport is to be part of the BER as Terminal 5. SXF will receive the IATA code on 25th October in line with the change from the summer to winter flight schedule. In order for Berlin Brandenburg Airport to meet the requirements for a location with several terminals, extensive renovations and extensions have been made to Schönefeld. Included in the renovations are new security control technology, the adaptation of the guidance system and the establishment of flight operations areas.
Engelbert Lütke Daldrup, Chief Executive Officer of Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg GmbH: “Schönefeld Airport as the new Terminal 5 will be an inherent part of the BER. As a result of the construction work, passengers can still be processed well at T5 for a few years. This means that flight operations can be reliably staggered under coronavirus conditions”.
The terminal sections at Schönefeld have borne the new markings ‘KLMQ’ since the end of March. This will prevent doubled-up names once the BER is in operation. The guidance system in the terminal sections has also been adapted to the BER colour scheme. With the changeover of the 3-letter code, the large lettering on the roof will also be replaced and in future will read ‘BER Terminal 5’.
For passengers, the quality of check-in has been significantly improved, for example through the renovation of Pier 3a in Terminal Section K. In addition, the security-restricted area in Terminal Section K has been re-structured. The old passenger screening technology has been renewed and adapted to the current standard of hand luggage screening technology, and the security scanners for passengers have been upgraded. The number of security lanes has increased from 4 to 5. For this purpose, the building entrance had to be relocated and the passage to Terminal Section L had to be closed. By the end of the year, several more areas for the Federal Police will be built. Furthermore, in cooperation with the Federal Police, the baggage inspection systems have been upgraded. Here, the checked in luggage is screened.
The opening of the BER will see flight operations taking place in so-called “double-roof operation”. Depending on the airline, passengers will check in and board at either T5 in the north or T1/T2 in Midfield. The aircraft ready for boarding at the former Schönefeld Airport will taxi to BER’s northern runway as before and take off from there. The aircraft waiting at T1 take off from the southern runway. In order to enable operation in the north parallel to the operation of the government airport from the interim location as well as the construction of the government terminal, the flight operations areas at Schönefeld have been expanded. The cost of all construction works over the last three years amounts to €40 million. That is a total of 23,000 square metres of apron area in concrete construction as well as 100,000 square metres of taxiways and service roads in asphalt construction. The new taxiways K5 and K6 allow for fast and parallel taxiing, while taxiway G ensures the connection to ramp 1 and thus to the government terminal. The new apron 3b provides space for five additional aircraft.
.jpg){kind=tracking}