Press release

Christmas time begins at BER

Airport company expects around 950,000 passengers during the holidays

The Christmas holidays in Berlin and Brandenburg begin next week. Whether a holiday, trip or family visit, the airport company expects around 950,000 passengers at BER between 22 December 2023 and 7 January 2024. The busiest day of travel is expected to be 20 December with almost 73,000 passengers. In addition to European cities, popular destinations include Istanbul and Antalya in Turkey, the Canary Islands and winter holidays to Tromsø in Norway, Innsbruck in Austria and Rovaniemi in Finland. There will also be a new connection to the USA starting on 15 December. Norse Atlantic Airways will fly once a week to Miami in Florida on the US East Coast.

The holiday season is a busy time for the airport company’s employees and partners – whether check-in, baggage handling, food and drink, technical infrastructure, traffic management or de-icing. On the three days of Christmas, around 500 employees from the airport company alone will be on duty each day in the terminals or on the aprons to make sure flight operations are running.

Passengers who need to secure a last-minute Christmas present before departure can go shopping in both terminals. Many shops are open until at least 7 pm on Christmas Eve, New Year’s Eve and public holidays. Heinemann Duty Free in the security area of both terminals is open for business until the last departure.

Restaurants, bars and cafés are open at the usual times or according to the flight schedule. The Rewe supermarket in the public area of Terminal 1 is open around the clock if you need to buy any missing ingredients for your Christmas dinner or for New Year’s Eve. Fresh bakery products are available directly opposite at Kamps, also open around the clock every day.

The airport is already decorated for Christmas. 3,500 LED lights light up the eight-metre-high Nordmann fir tree on Willy-Brandt-Platz. A second decorated eight-metre fir tree stands in front of the southern entrance to Terminal 1.

The US soul and jazz singer Jocelyn B. Smith will also be adding to the Christmassy atmosphere on 22 December. She will be performing together with the “Different Voices of Berlin” choir in Terminal 1 at 2 pm as part of “Anyone can sing with Jocelyn at BER”. The native New Yorker, who has lived and worked in Berlin for many years, has already given more than 3,000 live concerts and has received several awards for her social commitment, including Germany’s Federal Cross of Merit. With the message “Every voice is welcome”, she also wants to set an example for humanity, diversity and openness at BER.

One week earlier, on 15 December, at 5.30 pm, the Eichwalde Choir Community’s children and youth choir will perform in the public area of Terminal 1. There is a long-standing partnership between the association and the airport company.

Both performances will take place in the public area of Terminal 1 and can therefore be experienced not only by passengers, but also anyone interested without a flight ticket. 

Travel tips

By preparing for their departure and using BER’s digital services, passengers can travel in a more relaxed and convenient way. The airport company generally recommends that all passengers arrive at their respective terminal 2.5 hours before departure and proceed to security control immediately after checking in. Passengers should check-in independently online or at a self-check-in machine if possible.

BER Runway

Reserving a time slot for access to security control saves waiting time. The service is free of charge and can be booked from seven days before departure. Passengers who have booked a time slot simply go to boarding pass control 4 in Terminal 1 with their boarding pass. This recognises when there is a reservation. Passengers can also reach Terminal 2 via Terminal 1: https://ber.berlin-airport.de/en/fliegen/kontrollen/sicherheitskontrolle.html#runway

Self-check-in at the machines

More and more airlines allow passengers to check-in independently at the self-service machines, print out their boarding pass or baggage tag themselves and check-in their baggage independently at the designated baggage check-in counters. A total of 99 machines in Terminal 1 and 25 more kiosks in Terminal 2 are available.  https://ber.berlin-airport.de/en/fliegen/checkin-boarding.html#sse

BER Traveller

BER Traveller allows completely hands-free access to certain process locations at the airport without having to show any documents by means of biometric facial recognition. The service currently enables the use of self-check-in machines and access to security control at the priority lane using facial recognition. The service is initially aimed at the Lufthansa Group’s HON Circle Members, Senators and Business Class travellers during the pilot phase. https://ber.berlin-airport.de/en/ausgewaehlt/ber-traveller.html

The evening before

Some airlines offer passengers the option of checking in or dropping off their baggage the evening before for departures the next day. Lufthansa passengers can check-in the evening before, between 5 pm and 7.30 pm, up to 23 hours before departure. For Eurowings flights, this is possible between 4 pm and 5 pm and applies to departures up to 12 pm the following day. easyJet offers a bag drop the evening before, between 6 pm and 9 pm, for departures up to 9.30 am the following day. https://ber.berlin-airport.de/en/fliegen/checkin-boarding.html#vorabend

EasyPASS

Passengers who already have a biometric passport or new German identity card can use the automatic passport control. Third-country nationals aged 12 and over with an electronic passport and a German residence permit can also use EasyPASS and, by doing so, pass border controls more quickly. This does not apply to children’s passports. https://ber.berlin-airport.de/en/fliegen/kontrollen/pass-und-ausweiskontrolle.html#easypass

Getting to the airport

Den BER erreichen Fluggäste gut mit den öffentlichen Verkehrsmitteln und mit dem Auto. Wer vorab online einen Parkplatz auf parken.berlin-airport.de bucht, kann Geld sparen. https://ber.berlin-airport.de/en/orientierung/anreiseundabreise.html

Passengers will find detailed information on the website www.berlin-airport.de, in the BER app (https://app.berlin-airport.de) or by calling +49 30 6091 6091 0 (local rate).