The walkout, which is expected to start at around 1.30 p.m. (local time) on April 23, 2023, will affect several dozens of scheduled flights and hinder travel plans for hundreds of passengers. The temporary disruptions should end at midnight on the same day.

“Due to the announced warning strike at the aviation security controls, no departures are possible on Monday. Arriving flights may also be affected by cancellations and changes to the flight schedule due to the strike,” was written on the BER airport .

“Passengers affected by the strike are asked to contact their airline or travel agent for information on rebooking and alternative travel options,” was recommended in the statement.

The strike, which is organized by Berlin-based German trade union ver.di, is called over the ongoing wage dispute between the Federal Association of Aviation Security Companies (BDLS) and airport employees.

“The background to this is that ver.di has been negotiating with the Federal Association of Aviation Security Companies (BDLS) for years in order to increase pay for night shifts, Saturday, Sunday, and holiday work as well as a better collective agreement on the remuneration of overtime for airport security staff at commercial airports,” the union explained in a released on April 22, 2023.

“Employers do not want to pay any bonuses for overtime/overtime for full-time and part-time employees in the future,” it concluded.

In the meantime, the union has also officially urged the BDLS to present a negotiable solution until April 28, 2023. Otherwise, it warned that employees would repeatedly go on strike in May 2023.

No departures at Berlin Brandenburg Airport due to strikes, arrivals affected

• Airport

byRytis Beresnevicius

March 13, 2023

Air security staff working at other airports across Germany, including D眉sseldorf (DUS), Hamburg (HAM), and Cologne/Bonn (CGN), went on strike over the same issue on April 21 and April 22, 2023.

鈥淭he airport company officially informed its partners, such as airlines, ground handling service providers, security companies and businesses located at the airport, about this in the evening,鈥� the airport operator on January 23, 2023. 

The airport estimates that around 300 take-offs and landings and 35,000 passengers will be affected. 

Verdi.di, the second-largest trade union in Germany, issued a warning that its members would be holding an all-day strike, stating that no solution has been met yet for 鈥渨age rounds.鈥�

The airport urged passengers with affected flights to contact their respective airlines immediately. 

Finnair cancels 100 flights departing from Helsinki Airport due to staff strike

• Civil Aviation

byMichael Jonga

December 2, 2022

The low-cost carrier said it will fly 19 fewer routes and 230 fewer flights per week in the winter. That精东影业 equivalent to 40% fewer flights than it operated from the German capital in winter 2019.  

鈥淗igh airport costs in Berlin make it more attractive to base aircraft at better value airports in other areas of Germany and Europe,鈥� Ryanair chief executive Michael O鈥橪eary said in a statement on October 13, 2022.  

O鈥橪eary commented that other airports in Germany 鈥渦nderstand that competitive charges are necessary to support traffic recovery鈥� after the COVID-19 pandemic.  

It精东影业 not the first time that the low-cost carrier has criticized what it deems high charges at German airports. Ryanair closed its base at Frankfurt airport (FRA) in March 2022, citing high airport charges.  

Ryanair to close FRA base and cancel flights, blames higher charges

• Airlines

byVictoria Bryan

January 7, 2022

Ryanair also used the opportunity to attack Lufthansa (LHAB) (LHA), Germany精东影业 flag carrier, calling it a “subsidy junkie鈥� and saying that the airline精东影业 high prices, together with the high airport charges were preventing air travel from recovering in Germany and leading to less choice for tourists.  

鈥淏ecause of these anti-consumer price increases at airports and the massive subsidies for high-price national champion and subsidy-junkie Lufthansa (LHAB) (LHA), traffic in Germany fell by 28% this summer, which makes Germany the slowest market to recover in Europe,鈥� O鈥橪eary continued. 鈥淩yanair is calling on the German government and the major German airports to reduce airport charges and taxes to help traffic, tourism and jobs recover.鈥� 

Budget rival easyJet has also reduced its operations at BER in recent months, blaming slower than expected recovery and high airport fees. The airline is reducing the number of aircraft it has based at the German capital to 11 from 18 for winter 2022. 

easyJet plans to cut fleet, jobs in Berlin over slower than expected recovery

• Airlines

byVictoria Bryan

May 25, 2022

The Norway-based airline said daily flights between Berlin (BER) and New York JFK (JFK) will start from August 17, 2022, while flights between BER and Los Angeles (LAX) will operate three times a week from August 19, 2022.  

鈥淔or far too long the vibrant and culturally diverse city of Berlin has been subjected to poor direct transatlantic connectivity,鈥� commented Bjorn Tore Larsen, CEO of Norse Atlantic Airways. 鈥淥ur extremely competitive fares and direct flights will allow customers to now finally enjoy affordable and convenient travel between Germany and the US.鈥� 

Currently only United Airlines flies direct from the German capital to New York. The US carrier in March scrapped plans to add a direct route to Washington DC from May 2022. Passengers wishing to travel to the United States from Berlin usually have to transfer, for example at Lufthansa (LHAB) (LHA) hubs in Frankfurt or Munich or via hubs from other carriers in Paris or London  

鈥淭hese two new routes will provide a direct and cost effective option, saving both money and time, for local and international businesses when choosing to travel to and from the US or taking advantage of our cargo services,鈥� said Larsen. 

The airline, which will operate a fleet of Boeing 787 Dreamliners, said prices will start at 鈧�160/$120 one-way for JFK with LAX to start from 鈧�189/$138 one-way. 

Norse Atlantic精东影业 first flights are set to take off from June 14, 2022 from Oslo, Norway to the US. The start-up has also announced plans to start London Gatwick-JFK flights from August 12, 2022. 

Of its planned fleet of 15 Dreamliners, Norse Atlantic is sub-leasing four to Spanish airline Air Europa, thus bringing in additional cash during its start-up phase.  

Norse Atlantic to start Gatwick-JFK flights from August 2022

• Airlines

byVyte Klisauskaite

May 30, 2022

The low-cost carrier, which operates Airbus A320 family aircraft, said it planned to reduce the number of aircraft based in the German capital to 11 from 18 for the winter 2022. The reduction therefore puts 275 pilot and cabin crew jobs at risk.  

鈥淭he expected demand for travel, high airport fees and our efforts to optimize our network as a consequence of the pandemic mean it is necessary to restructure our operations,鈥� Stephan Erler, Country Manager Germany for easyJet, commented in a statement on May 24, 2022.  

The company will hold talks with staff representatives over the proposals. easyJet said it will try to keep the job cuts to a minimum and offer staff jobs elsewhere within its network where possible.  

easyJet said the proposals were part of its strategy to concentrate on profitable routes and the best possible network for its customers.  

鈥淲e are confident that if we remove the seven aircraft from BER and use them at other bases across the network, they will be more profitable and generate significantly more revenue than if they remained in BER,鈥� the airline said in a letter to staff that was seen by 精东影业.   

easyJet was once the largest airline in Berlin, following its takeover of parts of collapsed carrier Air Berlin (AB1) in 2017. However, it has struggled to gain a foothold in the domestic market and after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic announced cuts to its base in Berlin in 2020. At that time, it reduced the number of aircraft to 18 from 34 and said it would halve staff numbers to around 800.  

Trade union Verdi criticized the latest decision. 

鈥淐oming right now as traffic is picking up, it精东影业 incomprehensible. It精东影业 going to alienate customers,鈥� Verdi representative Holger Roessler told local paper Tagesspiegel. 鈥淭he planes are full,鈥� he added.  

easyJet posts $691M loss, bets on strong summer season

• Airlines

byGabriele Petrauskaite

May 19, 2022

Security staff will stage strikes at eight Germany airports on Tuesday – Berlin, Bremen, Cologne, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hanover and Stuttgart. Passengers are being told to check their flight status with their airlines.   

Union Verdi had also called for strikes last week, causing hundreds of flight cancellations across two days at major German airports.  

Hundreds of flights canceled across German airports as security staff strike

• Airport

byGabriele Petrauskaite

March 15, 2022

Lufthansa (LHAB) (LHA), Germany精东影业 largest airline, and Frankfurt airport operator Fraport warned passengers they will not be able to make their flight if their journey starts in Frankfurt because security checkpoints outside the transit area will be closed.  

鈥淲e therefore strongly advise all originating passengers from FRA to avoid coming to the airport,鈥� Fraport said. 

The union is demanding a pay increase of at least 鈧�1.00 per hour and says starting pay, which is lower until the employee has worked for 24 months, should also be increased. Pay talks will continue on March 24, 2022.  

After a series of embarrassing delays and cost overruns, BER finally opened in October 2020 in the midst of the global COVID-19 pandemic, with only Terminal 1 operational. The new airport replaced the city精东影业 Tegel and Schoenefeld airports.  

BER精东影业 Terminal 2 will commence operations on March 24, 2022, with the start of the summer flight schedule.  

Ryanair will be the main airline using Terminal 2, airport operator FBB said in a statement on March 10, 2022. After the first departure on March 24, the airline will gradually move all its flights there by the start of April.  

Some flights from other airlines will also move to the new terminal, the operator said, reminding passengers to check which terminal they are flying from.  

After a slow start to 2022, due to the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus impacting travel, passenger numbers showed signs of recovery in February, FBB said on March 4. The airport said 953,000 passengers flew through BER in February 2022. That精东影业 far higher than the 147,000 passengers in February 2021, but still a long way off February 2019, when 2.54 million flew through Tegel and Schoenefeld.  

BER Terminal 2, which can handle 6 million passengers a year, can be reached via the same train station and car parks as Terminal 1. From Terminal 1, passengers can reach Terminal 2 by foot.  

Terminals 1 and 2 are located between BER精东影业 two runways – 07L/25R and 07R/25L. The airport also has a Terminal 5, located to the north west, on the site of the former Schoenefeld airport. Terminal 5 is currently closed, due to the pandemic.     

How did Daldrup open BER, one of Germany精东影业 most ill-fated building projects?

• Airport

byVictoria Bryan

October 1, 2021

His death on February 16, 2022 after a short illness was announced by his foundation, the .   

Halvorsen, also known as 鈥淯ncle Wiggly Wings鈥�, is well known in Germany for his acts of kindness during the Berlin Airlift, when the Soviet Union blockaded west Berlin from June 25, 1948 to May 12, 1949 in one of the major events of the Cold War.  

With supplies unable to be brought to west Berlin via ground transportation, the western allies set up the Berlin Airlift to carry supplies to the city. 

Halvorsen was part of what was known as Operation Vittles, and decided to set up Operation 鈥淟ittle Vittles鈥� after an encounter with some children at the Tempelhof airport in west Berlin.  

He recounted on his foundation精东影业 website:  

鈥淥ne day in July 1948 I met 30 kids at the barbed wire fence at Tempelhof in Berlin. They were so excited. All I had was two sticks of gum. I broke them in two and passed them through the barbed wire. The result was unbelievable. Those with the gum tore off strips of the wrapper and gave them to the others. Those with the strips put them to their noses and smelled the tiny fragrance. The expression of pleasure was unmeasurable. 

鈥淚 was so moved by what I saw and their incredible restraint that I promised them I would drop enough gum for each of them the next day as I came over their heads to land. They would know my plane because I would wiggle the wings as I came over the airport.鈥� 

鈥淲hen I got back to base I attached gum and even chocolate bars to three handkerchief parachutes. We wiggled the wings and delivered the goods the next day. What a jubilant celebration.鈥� 

Halvorsen enlisted the help of colleagues, and the operation grew. Overall, over the next 14 months, thousands of children received more than 21 tons of candy either dropped from the sky from C-54 Skymaster aircraft or handed out on the ground.  

RIP Colonel . Berlin’s ‘Candy Bomber’, has passed at 101 years-old. When supplies were short during the Berlin Airlift, he dropped candy from his plane for the children of the city, inspiring Operation “Little Vittles”.

Thank you for your kindness, Colonel.

鈥� German Embassy (@GermanyinUSA)

Berlin Airport brings its second runway back into operation on December 1, reflecting an expected increase in traffic and signalling a return to more normal operations. 

How did Daldrup open BER, one of Germany精东影业 most ill-fated building projects?

• Airport

byVictoria Bryan

October 1, 2021

 

A chaotic weekend at Berlin精东影业 鈥孊ER highlights COVID精东影业 impact on aviation鈥�

• Civil Aviation

byVictoria Bryan

October 12, 2021

 

The fledgling airport has been plagued by teething issues, from overspending to repeated delays and reports of a leaky roof, but now something most unwelcome has been found lurking in its drinking water.

On November 2, BER took to Twitter to reveal that Coliform bacteria have been found during a routine test in the airport精东影业 main terminal. Information was relayed to passengers by loudspeaker announcements, where they were urged not to drink the water in the airport.

During routine sampling at , contamination (coliform bacteria) was found in the drinking water. The cause of the contamination is unclear. All pipes are currently being flushed. Health authorities and drinking water suppliers have been informed.

鈥� BER 鈥� Berlin Brandenburg Airport (@berlinairport)

So, what are coliform bacteria? 

Coliform bacteria are a large group of many kinds of bacteria, including fecal coliform bacteria, which occur naturally in the intestines of warm-blooded animals. Most are harmless to humans, but some types of coliform bacteria can cause disease. The most common symptoms are an upset stomach, diarrhea, and/or flu-like symptoms.

While the cause of the contamination is being investigated, all pipes are being flushed.  

The water in all sanitary facilities in Terminal 1 should not be used as drinking water until further notice. The health department of the city of Berlin and the airport精东影业 drinking water provider have already been informed.

Later on November 2, 2021, the airport announced via social media that passengers can buy bottled water for 鈧�0.50 ($0.57) in the duty-free area of BER.

A chaotic weekend at Berlin精东影业 鈥孊ER highlights COVID精东影业 impact on aviation鈥�

• Civil Aviation

byVictoria Bryan

October 12, 2021