In order to survive the corona crisis, the Berlin Brandenburg Airport Company (FBB), which operates BER, will submit applications for low-interest loans in the amount of 552 million euros this year to bridge the period until October 2021.
Time is running out because the special regulation for state aid at German airports, which has been agreed with the EU Commission, could otherwise no longer be used, said FBB finance director Aletta von Massenbach on Thursday in the participation committee of the House of Representatives.
These loans will probably not be enough. Airport boss Engelbert Lütke Daldrup confirmed that a total of 660 million euros would be needed in 2021 to make ends meet. The company has developed scenarios for the next year according to which 30 percent of the passenger numbers of 2019 are possible, i.e. a good 10 million passengers.
Perhaps only 30 percent of the normal number of passengers in 2021
That would correspond to the level of this year. Before Corona, FBB had expected around 37 million passengers. The consequences of the first lockdown in spring 2020 have already been mitigated with grants from FBB owners amounting to 300 million euros.
The federal government and Berlin have already transferred, Brandenburg will pay next week, said the FBB chief financial officer. A special problem at Berlin Airport is that “the investment cycle has been completed, but nothing has yet been paid off”. The company cannot build up any reserves for the time being.
Across Europe, the airports are missing 30 billion euros
By the way, airports across Europe lack 30 billion euros to cover operating costs. “The effects of the 2007/08 financial crisis and the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001 in New York are nothing against this pandemic,” said von Massenbach. As positive news, the FBB boss Engelbert Lütke Daldrup could only announce that “the first month at BER went largely smoothly”.
He sharply criticized the strategy of the three airport shareholders: “As always, FBB will be kept tight and pushed into private financing”. He recommended that the state owners think about the debt situation of the FBB, “then you quickly come to fundamental considerations”.
Partial debt discharge of BER in discussion
What that means, said in the committee of left-wing politicians Carsten Schatz: “FBB will probably not get around a partial debt discharge”. The Greens MP Harald Moritz also assumes that the airport needs a renovation concept.
Partial privatization is generally rejected by the SPD and the Left in Berlin. This debate does not help out of the crisis, said Finance Senator Matthias Kollatz (SPD). Because the federal government may only sell its shares in two years. In addition, BER is “a great opportunity for the region” in the long term.
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