Well, it has finally happened. If there's one good thing to come out of 2020, it's Berlin's long-awaited new airport opening. This past weekend the new Berlin Brandenburg Airport (which uses the code "BER") finally opened, nearly a decade behind schedule. While we've know for a few months that this was the plan, I'm sure…
Continue reading: FINALLY: New Berlin Brandenburg Airport Opens
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
The UA flight to EWR is not and was not seasonal. It operated year-round pre-pandemic. Seasonally, the equipment was prone to change, going from a 767-300ER to a 767-400ER from Spring to Fall.
Lounges:
Zeitgeist Lounge is the VVIP Lounge, away from public terminals.
About the Lufthansa lounges in general:
During November lockdown they remain open, but due to governmental requirements they cannot serve as restaurants; in other words: no food or drinks will be offered 😉
The U2 flight actually came in from TXL. The first departure was indeed to LGW on the next day.
A couple of things why the airport was such an disaster to build: when the airport was planned Berlin and surrounding Brandenburg did not have the money to pay the constructing company at that time: Hochtief, a well known constructing company with a lot of expertise for such projects. At that time the major of Berlin and the President of Brandenburg stepped in and founded the airport company to build the airport themselves. They anticipated that the price will be lower and the construction would be beneficial to small businesses in both areas. This I think was the cardinal mistake, many inexperienced businesses ended up building tiny parts of the airport with no proper records on their work nor proper supervision. In 2012 the architect company was fired, and eventually most plans for the construction went missing with the dismissal. Overall it’s a lesson that politicians should not interfere in such projects, and sadly never were these decision makers held accountable for this disaster. I am just relieved that we have proved to the world that even in Germany things can get south very quickly.
Radio Spätkauf has a podcast series called “How to f up an airport”. Very informative with a bunch of humour thrown in.
Actually Easyjet also has a plane with a special livery which says "Berlin" with a Berlin bear on it. A lot cooler than LH's one. Idk if this plane was used as you can only see one side of the Easyjet airplane in the footage, and the special livery would be on the other side. Most Berlin people will hate on the airport, but i found it very pretty and also functional.
I’m on the last Lufthansa flight in and out of TXL on a 350. Booked in business, looking forward to the events (if there are going to be any).
On the last LH flight out of TXL on a lufty 350. Booked in business, hopefully there will be some sort of event.
Eventually, a review of the airport would be nice, not just the lounge or the flight you take.
@Juergen. Thank you. I must say you managed to crystallize the core problem (cheap politicians trying to do expensive projects cheaply) better for me than most commentary on this woeful airport. Had it been a mega terminal building like what you find in the M.E. or Asia, then delays would have quite understandable. But the fact that BER is 'only' a medium sized terminal at best, is why public anger at the skyrocketing cost and delay is so amplified.
The Scoot flight to Singapore was Berlin's longest flight before the pandemic.
"This is definitely a step in the right direction for aviation in Berlin" - I am not sure how you come up with this. If BER were creating an international connecting hub, like FRA or MUC, then maybe you could justify the location. But no airline plans to hub here, and the terminal doesn't have the capacity to be a hub.
As the local airport with lots of flights to hubs, the BER location is inferior to TXL for virtually everyone. TXL was well located and had adequate capacity, even if it had an outdated terminal. BER is located so far away that it adds 30 minutes travel time for everyone. Even the fast train isn't very fast or direct and only runs every 30 minutes.
On the whole, the BER airport will shift more domestic travel onto DB, due to the extra time to get to/from town, and inconvenience everyone else.
Would love an update on the new (or eventual) train station in Stuttgart. Another "model" of German efficiency.
Not going miss TXL, it was one of the oddest airports I've ever been to. I guess it might been convenient to build the terminals like that once upon a time, but it was clearly outdated 20 years ago and I can only imagine now. Not a fan of airports in Germany in general, as they're quite messy and hard to get around. That doesn't even take the surly staff into account or the fact that they can't tell the difference between a Sikh and a Muslim turban. The poor guy for frustrated and nearly shot for it...
The airport has already old design which could be 17 or more years old. I never thought the BER would ever open, nevertheless it opened in the worst time possible.
TXL was really old and crappy but the location and short walking distances were fantastic. The new airport doesn't reflect the capacity and design what would the capital city need and deserve.
Let's see what happens...