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Berlin– June 3, 2012 is likely to fulfill Berlin dreams of turning into a major hub in Europe with the opening of that day of the city’s brand new airport Berlin Brandenburg International (BBI). “We feel very excited to put an end to the separation of traffic between Tegel in the North and Schönefeld in the South which was detrimental to turn Berlin into a proper international hub. From June, we will offer one single facility to all passengers, with a capacity to accommodate up to 27 million passengers a year and the possibility to further expand this facility to 45 million,” indicates Ralf Kunkel, BBI Spokesman. The new terminal will integrate also a rail line which will serve regional destinations such as Dresden in the South or to Poland eastwards. Initially, nine Intercity/ICE trains will pass through BBI rail station.
But of course, Berlin will feel the heat as airlines muscles their summer schedule from and to the city. “Berlin will be one of the few cities in Europe to be the battle field of two major alliances, Oneworld with Airberlin as the major operating carrier and Star Alliance with the Lufthansa Group. But they will not be the only ones: Easyjet – the third largest carrier out of Berlin- is already announcing a growth in capacity by 17% from June. Other airlines such as Norwegian, Turkish Airlines, Etihad, Air France-KLM or Condor are also boosting their presence while Emirates hopes to secure traffic rights. BBI will translate effectively with the biggest capacity expansion from the last 30 years out of Berlin,” indicates Spokesman Ralf Kunkel.
During the last ITB, both Airberlin and Lufthansa announced ambitious expansion plans. For Hartmut Mehdorn, Airberlin CEO, Berlin will indeed play a crucial role in the airline’s strategy, especially after joining officially Oneworld on March 20. “Berlin will be the third largest European base for Oneworld with London and Madrid and we will strengthen our hub functions. We already have a market share of 33%, representing some 7.9, million passengers. We have the ambition to accommodate up to 13 million passengers by 2020,” told Air Berlin CEO during its press conference. From June 3, Airberlin will offer some 70 direct destinations with 750 weekly departures and possibilities for 10,500 connections. New destinations this summer include Abu Dhabi, Budapest, Gdansk, Los Angeles and Windhoek, while more frequencies will be offered to Scandinavia and Italy. Up to 40 aircraft will be based at BBI including the brand new Airbus A330-200 for long-haul destinations. The airline however will abandon its Asia network as traffic will be from now rerouted via Abu Dhabi, following the entry of Gulf carrier Etihad Airways in Airberlin’s capital. In the new BBI, Airberlin and its Oneworld partners (British Airways, Finnair, Iberia and Royal Jordanian) will be located in the South Pier with a new lounge for 200 passengers and dedicated check-in facilities.
Airberlin growth at BBI did naturally not leave Lufthansa indifferent. Germany’s national carrier unveiled in details its reply during ITB. “We will embark on a new era in Berlin and we are doing it in style- increasing our seat capacities more than fourfold. We will together with our Star Alliance partners offer passengers from Berlin flights to 50 destinations compared to 8 destinations today,” announced during the traditional Lufthansa Press Conference Jens Bischof, Board Member Sales and Revenue Management for the carrier. Originally, Lufthansa thought to step in its Berlin marketing campaign with a gimmick of 49 destinations for 49 Euro. However, the collapse of Malev in Hungary precipitated Lufthansa’s decision to add a fifty destination to Budapest…
The German carrier will station in Berlin 15 aircraft Airbus from the latest generation and will fly a mix of leisure and business destinations as diverse as Zadar, Reykjavik,Tel Aviv, Milan, Lyon, Helsinki, Beirut or Izmir. This represents additional seat capacities of 40% compared to the winter schedule. In total, Lufthansa is investing in Berlin Euro 60 million for an expansion which will be the largest for the German carrier since the opening of the new Munich International airport. Lufthansa and its Star Alliance partners will occupy BBI North Pier offering a dedicated check-in area for first class passengers and a 1,500 m2 lounge.
Competition will rather be rough in Berlin but airlines are confident of their success. “We have now many assets in terms of market: a stable business travel market due to the presence of German and foreign governmental and official institutions due to the capital status; a strong pool of scientific and creative industries and a market which goes both inbound and outbound. Some 50% of our traffic comes from foreigners visiting Berlin compared to 25% to 30% for Frankfurt or Düsseldorf airports. This is a real asset”, adds Ralf Kunkel…
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
