Flight Movements
at BER

Several hundred aircraft take off from BER every day. With the TRAVIS information tool, all these aircraft movements and the associated aircraft noise measurement data can be seen and called up on a map for BER. By clicking on one of the aircraft, TRAVIS provides information about the aircraft type, the airline, and the flight destination. In addition, TRAVIS provides data about the flight altitude, the speed and the angle of approach or climb. By placing the house symbol from the header bar on any point of the map and clicking on an aircraft, the height at which the aircraft flies over the house and the lateral distance of the house to the approach or departure baseline are displayed, among other things. The aircraft noise levels occurring at the measuring points are also recognisable.

In addition, TRAVIS offers an archive function. By entering a date and time, noise events up to two months in the past can be analysed retrospectively. It is also possible to “play back” the flight movements in fast motion.

The TRAVIS map can also be used to display the current aircraft noise measurement data and measurement reports by clicking on the measuring points.

Flight movements and measurement data at BER Airport

Almost 23.1 million passangers have used BER in 2023. This was 3.2 million more than in 2022, but still 12.6 million fewer than before the pandemic. A total of nearly 177,000 aircraft movements were counted at the capital airport in 2023. This corresponds to an increase of 7.5 percent compared to 2022.

All flight movements at BER can be traced on the basis of the flight tracks. The colour of the flight tracks indicates the altitude of the respective flight. It is therefore easy to understand that many aircraft leave the specified flight path after reaching a certain altitude. This is possible for jet-powered aircraft from an altitude of about 1,500 m and for propeller-powered aircraft from about 1,000 m. However, the prerequisite for this is approval by the responsible tower.

Flight tracks of the busiest days in 2023

The two maps below show the flight tracks for the busiest days in 2023: once for westbound operations (in which aircraft take off and land in a westerly direction) and once for eastbound operations (in which aircraft take off and land in an easterly direction). On two-thirds of the days in 2023, it was westbound and for one-third, eastbound. The year was thus in line with the long-term average.

In westerly operation:

The busiest day with westerly winds in 2023 was September 29th and hence, Friday before german holiday on October 3rd. Since many passengers took advantage of the long weekend, a total of 645 flight movements were counted that day. On the following map, the flight tracks of this day show an example of the flight movements that are common in westerly winds.

In easterly operation:

With 641 aircraft movements the busiest day with easterly winds in 2023 was October 20th. On this Friday at the beginning of german autumn holidays in Berlin and Brandenburg the planes took off from the northern runway over Müggelsee or Erkner and from the southern runway almost exclusively over the Hoffmann curve and then turned towards the west and east. The following map shows the flight tracks from that day.