Berlin Brandenburg was officially opened on Saturday afternoon, but not as planned. An EasyJet and a Lufthansa aircraft were meant to land simultaneously. However, the weather conditions threw a spanner in the works: due to low-hanging clouds, the visibility was not good enough for the simultaneous landing. EasyJet landed first, followed by Lufthansa three minutes later.
Brandenburg was supposed to open in 2011, but due to a combination of construction and fire safety problems, mismanagement and corruption, it took an additional nine years for the airport to be completed.
The German capital now has a new airport, with a capacity for 40 million passengers per year. Brandenburg Airport replaces the iconic but also outdated Tegel Airport. The adjacent Schönefeld Airport has been rebranded as Brandenburg Airport Terminal 5. The ‘new’ part of the airport consists of Terminal 1 and 2. Terminal 1 is now open, Terminal 2 will remain closed for the foreseeable future due to a lack of passengers.
On Saturday evening, the first regular EasyJet flights land at Brandenburg, and they will leave on Sunday morning. Other airlines will follow in the coming week, such as Turkish Airlines and Qatar Airways on November 1, Lufthansa on November 7/8, KLM on November 8, and Brussels Airlines on November 9. Next weekend, Tegel Airport will close permanently.