After the global Covid-19 pandemic brought air traffic to a virtual standstill for a good ten weeks, there are now clear signs of an approaching recovery. From mid-June, the number of regular connections from Berlin will increase to 40. One month later, there will already be 100 connections offered. It is likely that the number of daily passengers will more than double in June from the approximately 3000 there are at the moment. Up to 20,000 passengers are expected at the end of July. A crucial reason for the significant increase in the number of connections is that strict travel restrictions will be lifted from mid-June. This means that free travel to many European countries will be possible again from mid-June.
On the basis of these relaxed travel and quarantine regulations, several airlines have announced that they will resume an initially reduced service from mid-June onwards and will notably fly to holiday destinations in summer. Airlines that are gradually re-starting their flight operations include the British airline easyJet, which has its largest location outside of the UK in Berlin and is the market leader in the capital region. On June 2, easyJet announced that operations would start again at the end of June. More flights are expected at the end of July. Ryanair plans to increase its flight operations from 21 June with a further increase in July. Other airlines have announced the revival of their services from Berlin, including Turkish Airlines, Wizz Air, KLM, Air France and Qatar Airways. Lufthansa will expand its current service and, together with its subsidiaries Eurowings, Swiss and Austrian, will offer more flights from Berlin in July.
In light of this, it is conceivable that air traffic will pick up again and that significantly more aircraft and passengers can be expected within the next few weeks. However, the stricter distance and conduct rules for passengers and staff at the airports remain in place; significantly more space is required. In order to be able to organise the increasing air traffic in an operationally reliable and safe way until BER is commissioned, Tegel Airport will remain operational as originally planned until 8 November 2020.
Berlin, 5 June 2020
