Press­ Release

Passenger numbers at BER increased in May: First signs of a recovery in air traffic at German airportsa

The number of passengers at Berlin Brandenburg Airport Willy Brandt (BER) increased last month. Around 362,000 passengers took off and landed at BER in May. That’s almost 100,000 more than in April. This is due to the weakening of the pandemic in Europe and the relaxation of travel restrictions in several countries.

A year ago in May 2020, in the midst of the crisis, 52,000 passengers were processed at the former Schönefeld and Tegel airports; in May 2019 there were more than 3.2 million passengers. A total of 1.2 million passengers used BER Airport in the first five months of this year.

Last month there were around 5,400 flights through BER, around 600 more than in April. In May 2020, only around 2,100 planes took off and landed in Schönefeld or Tegel, in May 2019 this number was 26,100.

In the case of air freight, almost as many goods were processed last May as in April 2021 - around 2,200 tons. In May 2019, before the crisis, this figure was 3,100 tons.

Engelbert Lütke Daldrup, CEO Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg GmbH: “There are increasing signs that air traffic is slowly picking up again. At the end of May we had between 10,000 and 18,000 passengers a day. We are still a long way from normalcy. But falling numbers of infections, the increasing number of COVID-19 vaccinations and the associated easing of travel are making things safer: more people are now chasing their vacation dreams. If the number of passengers continues to rise in summer and autumn, we may be looking at a forecast of around 10 million passengers for 2021.”

The May 2021 traffic report including the official figures can be found online at the end of the month.

Traffic Report