Berlin’s Brandenburg Airport announced that its Terminal 5, also known as Schonefeld Airport will be shut until 23rd February of 2022. The airport authority sought the decline of passengers during the pandemic as the reason for this decision and predicts that the situation will not improve this year.

Since Terminal 2 is also temporarily shut, the current traffic handled by Terminal 1 will be more until Terminal 5 and 2 are reopened. By taking this step, the airport will reportedly save around €25m for the year.  Due to the fall in passenger numbers in view of the pandemic, the expected passenger traffic will be handled at Terminal 1 until further notice.

“This year, the airport company must again assume that passenger numbers will remain far below the pre-crisis level. We assume that in 2021 we will be able to handle around ten million passengers safely and comfortably in Terminal 1.

This step reduces costs and expenses for the year by about €25m. Terminal 5 will still be promptly available to us if the need arises. The dormant operation is organized in such a way that Terminal 5 can be up and running again within a few weeks when it is needed again, ” said Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg GmbH CEO Engelbert Lütke Daldrup

‘Cursed’ Brandenburg Aerodrome Inauguration Planned For 2020

Finally, the long waited for almost nine years and spending billions of dollars, Berlin’s new Brandenburg airport is on the verge of coming alive. It is a great relief for officials as they faced numerous speculations and pressure from the public for the intensive delay. The officials revealed that the Cursed Brandenburg Aerodrome could be inaugurated on October 31st, 2020.

“Berlin currently has very few long-distance connections,” Daniel Tolksdorf, a spokesperson for Berlin’s new airport, told CNN in an email. “We strongly expect that these will increase with the [new airport]. Of course, long-distance connections require modern infrastructure and sufficient space. The existing airports Tegel and Schönefeld do not offer that now.”

“Since 2017, we rigorously pursue a process of completion without any further changes,” Tolksdorf, the airport spokesman, told CNN. He added that airport staff has “a very precise timetable and we have detected all errors on construction site.”

“I would say Berlin now finally gets the airport it really deserves,” Kieker said. “If you look at Berlin right now, being the capital of the biggest economic player in Europe, we have, I think, eight daily long-haul flights. That’s a joke.”

“Overall, the airport is an intermodal mobility hub for the region,” Tolksdorf said.

He adds that there will be benefits to locals living nearby.

“The airport will change the region of Brandenburg,” he said. “We currently expect up to 60,000 additional jobs for the region triggered by the airport.”

“There is still much to be done in the next 11 months,” he said. “The finished building must become a functioning airport.”