Intercontinental flights at BER
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New start for the direct connection Berlin – New York
Mon 03/28/22 | 06:05 | Of
Right on time with the new summer timetable, United Airlines is once again flying back and forth non-stop between Berlin and New York. Overall, however, BER lags behind its international standards. By Thomas Rautenberg
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Intercontinental connections are part of everyday business for every capital city airport in the world. Not so at BER, where the intercontinental flights can still be counted on one hand.
In this respect, the return of United Airlines with its direct flight offer between Berlin and New York is something special, namely only a first step towards normality, says airport boss Aletta von Massenbach. She is of course pleased that United Airlines has the courage to open this route again in these volatile times. But a direct connection between Berlin and New York “is normal, just normal”.
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Connections have to pay off
A so-called “open sky” has been agreed between the EU and the USA. After that, each airline can decide completely independently whether to start new flight connections. But they find it difficult to include additional routes in their program, says von Massenbach. “The airlines only do this if there is sufficient demand. In both directions, there and back. The mere interest of people, companies and scientific institutions in the Berlin area in a direct connection to the USA would not be enough”.
To make it worthwhile for the airline, there must be at least four weekly connections between the cities, with a calculated capacity utilization of around 300 passengers per plane.
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Other intercontinental connections are limited
On other routes, such as to Asia or the Arab states, there is another major hurdle: air traffic is strictly regulated and the number of connections per country is limited. Because the divided Berlin was not allowed to be served by German airlines such as Lufthansa, the take-off and landing rights for intercontinental flights were distributed to other airports such as Frankfurt, Munich or Düsseldorf. And they are still there today – to the chagrin of the capital’s airport.
The Federal Ministry of Transport could now negotiate additional slots for Berlin, provided, of course, that there is additional demand and airlines that want to start traffic. The state airline Emirates from the United Arab Emirates would apparently like to fly to BER. So far, there has not been an acceptable permit for this. Instead, the Latvian Smart Lynx has taken over the direct connection between Berlin and Dubai.
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restore the status quo
So at BER you will first have to bake smaller rolls. The aim is initially to restore the intercontinental connections cut off by Corona, explains von Massenbach. She is in talks with the airlines about this.
“During the entire period of the pandemic, we kept in close contact with the airlines that used to fly to Tegel. They know the market. They also know how it works. And it’s easier for these airlines to choose Berlin again .”
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More direct connections are to come
BER already flies directly to Doha, Dubai, Singapore and, as of today, New York. United Airlines originally wanted to include Washington DC in its flight schedule as a direct connection from May this year. However, this project was postponed by a year due to the uncertain travel situation in Corona times.
Beijing, Toronto, Boston, Philadelphia and Ulan Bator in Mongolia could be added as further intercontinental destinations in the foreseeable future. Provided, of course, that the airlines make a corresponding offer.
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Broadcast: 03/28/2022, rbb 88.8, 6:00 a.m
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