Berlin airport BBI is about to take off...

The new Berlin airport BBI is gathering pace. The magic deadline is 30 October 2011. Lufthansa, like others, is already preparing the big move. For them it is more than a new destination; Lufthansa plans to make Berlin its future hub. The new winter schedule reflects these plans: 3 new destination that until October 2011 will leave from Berlin-Tegel: Dubai, Miami, Mombasa.

The countdown is running: in the next 12 months they will search for test-passsengers to evaluate the new airport: is the luggage belt working, is security really secure? These will be the tasks from May 2011 until October 2011. Until then, the workers will still have much to finish. 3,000 of them are making sure that BBI will be connected to the railway and the autobahn. But the success of an airport these days is more and more the non-aviation business: shop till you drop! Currently the passagers are spending less than 7 EUR each, but the forecast is 11 EUR. This money is needed to refinance the credits. 100 Mio EUR are the latest figure. The rents of the shops are an important piece of the business cake. We know this from supermarkets: move the customer the way you want him to spend money. After checking in and passing security you will not be able to escape the shopping temple. In the whole airport 50 shops are planned on 22,000 sqm, including food court. According to the airport company, the retail leases are still under negotiations since there are much more potential tenants than shops.

In the future we have to forget about TXL (Tegel) and SXF (Schönefeld) and get used to BBI. But if you are not a friend of 3-letter-words, you might also call the new airport tenderly "Willi-Brandt". 

Here is some background information on Berlin airports: