Press­ Release

Slight passenger growth in March / Despite compulsory testing: more air traffic to popular holiday destinations

The number of passengers at Berlin Brandenburg Willy Brandt Airport (BER) increased slightly in March compared to February 2021. 220,250 passengers took off and landed at BER last month. This means that a good 73,000 more passengers were handled than in February this year. Reasons for the growth are tourism travel and the lifting of travel warnings for certain holiday destinations, such as Majorca.

Nevertheless, passenger numbers are still at a very low level at all German airports one year after the start of worldwide travel restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic: the passenger volume at BER was only around one fifth compared to March 2020. In the year prior to the crisis, in March 2019, almost three million passengers were still being handled at the former Schönefeld and Tegel airports.

Last March, around 4,000 aircraft movements were counted at BER. By comparison, around 13,000 aircraft still took off and landed at Schönefeld and Tegel airports in March 2020. It was more than 23,000 in March 2019.

BER’s freight facilities handled around 1,900 tonnes last month. That is around 400 tonnes more than in February this year. For air freight, the decline compared to the same month of the previous year, March 2020, is significantly lower at just 18.2 percent. In March 2020, there were 2,300 tonnes of air freight; in March 2019, around 2,800 tonnes of air freight.

Engelbert Lütke Daldrup, Chief Executive Officer of Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg GmbH: “The increased interest in flights to Majorca immediately after the quarantine regulation was lifted speaks for the high pent-up readiness to travel. People want to fly on holiday. They also accept coronavirus-related conditions, such as compulsory testing before departure. This is a sign that air traffic can gradually recover with a rigorous testing and hygiene strategy”.

You can find the March 2021 traffic report with the final figures online at the end of the month.

Traffic Report