Lufthansa: BBI airport will not be our new hub / Still no solution for private jets

After asking yesterday "What will happen to Tegel Airport" , I saw another press release on the matter today. The supporters of the new airport BBI (Berlin-Brandenburg-International in Schönefeld, great Berlin area) are dreaming of an international hub, but Lufthansa made it very clear yesterday morning during a breakfast meeting of the chamber of commerce: they are delighted to expand their business at the new airport, but do not even think about using BBI as a new hub. There would be already Frankfurt and Munich, two economically powerful cities where the investment produces a return. Lufthansa say that at the moment Berlin is quite far away from a similar position.

The supporters are more than disappointed. The CEO of Lufthansa, Mr. Mayrhofer made a very simple calculation: all the German DAX companies are gone. Economically it does not make sense, there is not such an economic power in Berlin that would justifya new hub. If one day more people are flying to Berlin, then yes it could be interesting but for the moment Berlin is not a business destination where passengers from other regions come and then can connect to further destinations. According to Mayrhofer Lufthansa will become much bigger than it is today, but only with the already existing destinations. Nowhere else is Lufthansa growing as much as in Berlin.

Flexibility is the most important issue for Mayrhofer who points out that staying flexible helped not reducing the stuff during the crisis. The competition, Air Berlin, also sees growth in Berlin, but did not specify whether they would just offer more flights within the existing destinations or open new ones. Both, Air Berlin and Lufthansa are sure that the growth lies in the low-cost field. Nowhere else are so many low-cost carriers landing than in Berlin-Schönefeld, the future BBI. Mayrhofer cannot understand why citizens are so much fighting for the ban of night flights. "Berlin lives at night" he says, "why close down the airport?".

Interesting: nobody can answer the question where the business and private planes shall go. BBI already said in November that small planes (less than 2 tons) are not welcome on the future BBI, also will the airport increase the fee for private planes so far. So where will the economical power of the region come from if investors cannot come with their private planes? Remember: Tempelhof airport closed in fall 2008, Tegel airport will close in winter 2011/2012.

Hopefully the solution will pop up out thin air...