Berlin Airport Opening Signals a Week-Long Shift in Airline Operations
The move from Tegel to the new facility begins Oct. 31 and will be complete by Nov. 8
Berlin’s long-awaited Brandenburg Airport is scheduled to finally begin operations tomorrow, Oct. 31, after nearly a decade of delays. The opening signals a week or so of airlines shifting services from the old Tegel airport before that facility closes its doors for good on Nov. 8.
The first airlines to fly into the airport will be Easyjet and Lufthansa, which are set to mark the event with a special parallel landing to celebrate the opening.
Then beginning the evening of Oct. 31, the airport’s Terminal 1 will be put into operation starting at 8:00 PM, as Easyjet arrivals will switch from Tegel to BER. The following day (Sunday Nov. 1), Easyjet will be the first airline to depart from BER Terminal 1, followed by Qatar Airways and Turkish Airlines services.
Eurowings will land at BER T1 for the first time on the evening of Tuesday, Nov. 3, and both Eurowings and Vueling departures will switch from Tegel to BER beginning Wednesday, Nov. 4.
On the same day Ryanair, SunExpress and Sundair will switch from Tegel to what is now known as BER Terminal 5 (the old Berlin Schonefeld airport which has been incorporated into the new Berlin Brandenburg), and Belavia, Georgian Airways, Egyptair and Norwegian will move from BER’s T5 to T1.
The last scheduled flights at Tegel will take place on Saturday, Nov. 7, with Lufthansa flying into BER T1 from that evening. Then beginning the following day (Nov. 8) the last wave of carriers will begin operations from BER T1.
These carriers are: Aegean Airlines, Aer Lingus, Air Baltic, Air France, Air Malta, Air Serbia, Austrian Airlines, British Airways, Brussels Airlines, Danish Air Transport, Finnair, Iberia Express, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Luxair, SAS, Swiss and TAP Portugal.
A note to travelers who have parked at Tegel airport but are set to land at BER: There will be an hourly shuttle bus available from BER beginning the evening of Oct. 31 until Nov. 8. The airport’s rail station opened this week, with Flughafen BER Terminal 1-2 located directly under Terminal 1 on level U2.
And the Steigenberger Airport Hotel Berlin has now opened for business, having been mothballed for the best part of a decade.
