The past 12 months have not been easy for the team at Berlin Airports, the host of World Routes in 2011. The opening of Germany’s new capital city airport was postponed in May last year, only weeks before the first flights were due to depart from its brand new runway. A lot has been written and said about BER, officially known as Berlin Brandenburg Airport, which is to replace the ageing cold war airports of Tegel and Schönefeld. But astonishment and Schadenfreude aside, the bottom line is that Berlin’s shining new airport can only open once the remaining problems with the fire protection system have been solved and the authorities give the green light for all of the region’s air traffic to move to the impressive new structure south-east of Berlin.
Once you look past the difficulties on the construction site, you can’t help but admire the growth rates Berlin has consistently reported. “No doubt, the delayed opening of BER had an impact on our route development, but the big picture is very promising. We have doubled our passenger numbers over the past ten years to a record 25.3 million last year”, said Dr Till Bunse, Vice President Marketing at Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg, as the operating company of the German capital region’s airports is now known. In an exclusive interview with The HUB leading up to Routes Europe, Bunse admitted that the delayed opening forced the airport to change its route development approach: “In the short term we had to focus on the existing airports Tegel and Schönefeld, but our long-term strategy hasn’t changed at all.”
“No doubt, the delayed opening of BER had an impact on our route development, but the big picture is very promising. We have doubled our passenger numbers over the past ten years to a record 25.3 million last year.”
Dr Till Bunse
Vice President Marketing, Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg
“Keep in mind that ten years ago, there was almost no long-haul traffic at all in Berlin and passengers often had to change planes at Frankfurt or Munich to get here. Now we have direct links to about 180 airports in around 50 countries, including a dozen key long-haul destinations. We are already a hub in our own right – admittedly on a much smaller scale than Europe’s major hubs, but we believe that the opening BER will give hub traffic another push as all flights will operate through one central terminal and connecting times will be minimal,” he added. No doubt this will be a major improvement for airlines which still have to make do with the various terminals of Tegel and Schönefeld.
Asked about the significance of long-haul traffic for Berlin, Bunse stressed the importance of direct air links for the economic development of the region. “After the fall of the Berlin Wall, there was little industry or commerce in Berlin. Airlines would say, ‘there aren’t enough businesses or passengers in Berlin to make it worth our while’. This has changed completely since the 1990s; Berlin is growing and has become the capital of Europe’s largest economy, a major centre for tech start-ups and other businesses as well as a major location for exhibition and congresses,” he explained. Tourism has also boomed for the past twenty years, he pointed out, and is now the city’s most important industry.
All this has contributed to a growing route network that now comprises direct connections with New York, Los Angeles, Abu Dhabi and Beijing, to mention a few. Only last month, airberlin added a link to Chicago to its North American portfolio. Germany’s second largest airline has been a major factor contributing to Berlin’s impressive track record. “airberlin has been a great partner for us. In particular their focus on developing hub and long-haul traffic has been very beneficial for the airport and the region,” said Bunse. With a view to the anticipated opening of the new airport, Lufthansa followed suit and massively expanded its European network in Berlin last year.
On the other side of town, in Schönefeld, easyJet has developed a first-rate European point-to-point network for the past nine years. Once the carrier had shown that there was appetite among Berliners and European travellers alike for more connections to and from Berlin, many airlines followed its lead and expanded in Berlin, not least Lufthansa’s Germanwings and Ryanair. These very healthy developments have allowed the Berlin Brandenburg region to consistently outgrow its peers in Germany and Europe.
“Over the past ten years, we went from ‘why bother?’ to ‘must be there’”, Bunse said. “We have therefore been able to grow faster than any other major airport in Germany over the last decade and are now the country’s number three.” In Europe, Berlin went from a ranking in the mid-teens to knocking on the door of the top 10 airport cities on the continent. “Our challenge now is to foster sustainable, long-term growth,” he added.
Asked whether the delay of BER will lead to a fall in traffic in 2013, Berlin’s VP Marketing displays confidence about the current year. “We have to see what the coming winter brings, but we so far are holding up well, despite the economic headwinds in the industry and more generally across Europe. We are quite confident that we can keep traffic roughly at last-year’s record level. The advantages of the Berlin market are all there, despite the delay,” he said.
“After the fall of the Berlin Wall, there was little industry or commerce in Berlin. Airlines would say, ‘there aren’t enough businesses or passengers in Berlin to make it worth our while’. This has changed completely since the 1990s; Berlin is growing and has become the capital of Europe’s largest economy, a major centre for tech start-ups and other businesses as well as a major location for exhibition and congresses.”
Dr Till Bunse
Vice President Marketing, Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg
But where will future growth come from? “We still see a lot of opportunities for carriers, for instance in South East Asia, Canada, South America and Africa. There are still some blank spots in Europe too, for instance in selected markets in Eastern Europe, France and Spain. And let’s not forget, traffic leads to more traffic, business leads to more business and new opportunities,” he added. “Moreover, we have something no other major airport can offer in Europe. We have the capacity and the space to almost double the number of passengers.”
BER starts with a capacity of 27 million, just above current passenger levels, but has been planned with a view to expanding the facilities to 45 million, if demand is there. Till Bunse believes that this foresight will be a major asset in times of slot, terminal and runway constraints that are all too common in Europe and North America.
Inevitably our discussion moves back to the new airport. To ensure a swift opening is the task of new CEO Hartmut Mehdorn, the former head of airberlin and German railway operator Deutsche Bahn, who took over in March. The manager who can point to an unparalleled 40-year track record in Germany’s transport sector was brought in with the explicit task of finishing the job. There also seems to be renewed focus on “getting the job done”. Only weeks into the job, Mr Mehdorn presented his action plan for a speedy opening, called ‘Sprint’, which is to allow the airport to announce a new opening date this year.
But, despite the challenges ahead, Till Bunse is excited about the future Berlin Brandenburg Airport. “It will be one of the most attractive airports in the world, designed with the passengers and airlines in mind, with excellent transport links. A single, modern airport for a modern, unified city,” he said.
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