First planes land at Berlin's much-delayed airport

BERLIN, Oct 31 (Reuters) - The first passengers landed at
Berlin's new airport on Saturday, nine years after it was
originally due to open and as the global aviation industry
struggles with collapsing demand due to the coronavirus
pandemic.

Dozens of climate activists demonstrated at the new airport
on Saturday, carrying signs reading "Flying is so yesterday"
and "BER opening cancelled due to the climate crisis", using the
code for the full name of Berlin-Brandenburg Willy Brandt
Airport.

Construction on BER began in 2006 and the airport was
originally due to open in 2011. But construction problems and
technical issues saw the date pushed back repeatedly, a major
embarrassment that dented Germany's reputation for efficiency.

The delays left Berlin relying on two outdated and
increasingly crowded Cold War-era airports: Tegel, which served
the west of the city, and Schoenefeld, which was once Communist
East Berlin's airport and which has been integrated into the new
facility.

The first plane to land was an Easyjet flight, a
special service that took off from Tegel on the other side of
the city. That airport will close next weekend.

A Lufthansa plane landed minutes later.

"With just one airport, we can make our business much more
efficient," Easyjet Chief Executive Johan Lundgren told Reuters
before the flight.

Because of the coronavirus pandemic, Easyjet is cutting its
fleet based in Berlin to 18 planes from 34 and cutting 418 out
of around 1,500 employees, while another 320 staff will work
shorter hours until next June.

Engelbert Luetke Daldrup, chief executive of the city's
airports, expects just 10 million passengers to land in Berlin
this year, compared with 36 million last year. BER's current
capacity is 40 million.

The new airport, which is owned by the German federal
government and the states of Berlin and Brandenburg, cost nearly
6 billion euros ($7.1 billion), roughly three times the initial
budget, and is not expected to make enough revenue to pay back
its debts.

That means the airport will need grants, restructuring, a
strategic investor, equity from its owners - or a combination of
these - to put it on a more solid financial footing.
(Reporting by Klaus Lauer, writing by Emma Thomasson;
Editing by James Drummond)