Press Release

Published: 13 May 2025, 11:20

New Chief Operating Officer appointed at BER
István Szabó to succeed Thomas Hoff Andersson in autumn

In a meeting on 7 May 2025, the Supervisory Board of Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg GmbH (FBB) appointed István Szabó as the new Chief Operating Officer (COO) at BER Airport. He will take over the areas of responsibility of his predecessor, Thomas Hoff Andersson, from autumn 2025.

As Acting COO and Chief Passenger Services Officer of Budapest Liszt Ferenc Airport, István Szabó boasts extensive experience in airport operations and several operational innovation projects. Under his leadership, Budapest Airport was twice named the best airport in Europe in the “15 to 25 million passengers per year” category in the ACI Airport Service Quality Ranking in 2022 and 2024. The Skytrax rating agency ranks it as a four-star airport.

István Szabó began his career in 2005 as Managing Director of the security service provider I-SEC Hungary and speaks German and English fluently. From 2016 to 2020, he was responsible for airport security at Budapest Airport as Chief Security Officer. In the years since 2020 as Chief Passenger Services Officer and Acting COO, he was jointly responsible for quality initiatives at the airport such as Remote City Check-in and the establishment of Care Zones for passengers.

The Hungarian native studied law and political science in Budapest, is a trained European Aviation Security Manager, a Certified Cyber Security Expert and has completed the IATA Security Management Systems Programme.

“BER Airport has undergone impressive development in recent years. The task now on hand entails consistently driving forward the innovative course at BER Airport. We are delighted to have gained a qualified airport manager in István Szabó, who brings extensive experience and expertise to this task. We will continue to optimise and digitalise both the travel experience for our passengers and airport processes at BER with him,” said Jörg Simon, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg GmbH, commenting on the appointment.

“With István Szabó, we will continue to develop BER as a high-performance, highly efficient airport that offers all airlines an optimal operating environment for their growth and at the same time always enables our passengers to travel safely and relaxed to their destinations,” adds Aletta von Massenbach, Chief Executive Officer of Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg GmbH.

István Szabó commented: “I would like to thank the FBB Supervisory Board for their trust. Berlin Brandenburg Airport has made great progress in optimising its operational processes in the years since it opened. This has just been re-confirmed by the four stars from Skytrax. I will continue to consistently pursue this path with the FBB team. Our declared goals are efficiency and excellence in processes and services for both airlines and passengers at BER.”