Berlin Airport may run out of money in 2022

BER Airport in Schönefeld will soon need the next financial aid from the state owners. The liquidity is still secured until February 2022, "until then we need fresh money," said Aletta von Massenbach, the designated BER CEO, on Friday after a meeting of the supervisory board of the airport company of Berlin, Brandenburg and the Federal Government (FBB) in Schönefeld.

The current FBB chief financial officer will succeed Engelbert Lütke Daldrup, the previous head of FBB, on Oct. 1. He had managed in October 2020 the start-up, which had previously failed for almost a decade.

Because of the BER billion-euro loans and the loss of revenue due to the passenger slump in the Corona crisis, FBB needs a total of 2.4 billion euros from the three owners by 2026, according to von Massenbach. These figures have not changed, she said.

However, the approval from Brussels, which was hoped for in September, that the shareholder aid may flow in accordance with EU regulations, has not yet been received. FBB needs this and approval from the parliaments of Berlin, Brandenburg and the federal government by February 2022.

FBB expects around 10 million passengers in 2021. In 2019, before the crisis, the figure was 35.6 million. According to von Massenbach, FBB expects revenue of 265 million euros this year (2019: 416 million euros), and an operating deficit of 60 million euros. After a poor first half, BER handled 1.435 million passengers in August, 45 percent of its previous level, and expects 1.5 million passengers in September, Lütke Daldrup said.

He asked for understanding that due to the Corona restrictions, handling processes in the BER terminal would take longer than before Corona. However, he said, that was the case at all European airports. He informed that FBB would now start marketing real estate in the midfield between the freeway and BER, and that it would do so "in an urban development quality and at a good price."

Image by Achim Scholty