Passenger figures soar as BER looks back at 2021 results

Credit: Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER)

The fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic had little impact on passengers’ desire to travel during the holiday season. A total of 1.06 million passengers took off and landed at Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER) in December 2021, only 160,000 fewer than in the previous month of November 2021. During the holidays alone during the last two weeks of December 2021, 640,000 passengers were handled. In December 2019, 2.6 million people still used the former Schönefeld and Tegel airports. 

A total of 9.95 million passengers took off or landed at BER. That was almost 900,000 more passengers than in the previous year and less than a third compared to the record year 2019 with 35.65 million passengers. The first half of 2021 had started cautiously with 1.59 passengers in the period from January to June. With the start of the summer holidays in Berlin and Brandenburg, the desire to travel increased significantly. In the second half of 2021, a total of 8.36 million people travelled via BER. The busiest month was October 2021 with 1.7 million passengers.

Last December, 12,200 flight movements were also registered, around 100 fewer than in November 2021. For comparison: In December 2019, there were 21,200 flight movements.

In air freight, 3,100 tonnes of goods were handled last month. The level from the pre-COVID-19 month of December 2019 was exceeded by 300 tonnes. In total, cargo volumes in 2021 amounted to around 27,500 tonnes of freight. That was 7,500 tonnes less than in 2019.

Aletta von Massenbach, CEO of Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg GmbH said: “Since July 2021, more than one million people have used BER Airport every month. Compared to the first half of 2021, the number of passengers has increased more than fivefold. In the morning and evening peak times since July, BER’s capacity utilisation has always been close to COVID-19-free normal operation.”