The Brandenburg Airport in Berlin, Germany finally opened its doors on Halloween after a decade of waiting. The decade delay of the airport was due to the airport being about four billion euros over budget, as well as the downfall of many aviation industries due to the pandemic.

The site is located in the Schönefeld region southeast of Berlin. The airport is focusing on being able to do longer destination flights. The Brandeburg airport was reportedly given 300 million euros in state aid to help support the airport. Though state aid was given by the government to the airport itself it hasn’t transported a single person. 

The airport is supposed to have a capacity of over 40 million passengers, but due to the pandemic, it had to lower the capacity to 11,000 passengers. 

“The Berlin airport has been under construction since 2006 so I am surprised they were able to finally open during this pandemic. The pandemic has financially hurt many airlines and airports. I hope that this airport is able to make enough money to stay open considering it took so long to build,” said WJPS teacher Ms. Foley.

WJPS teacher Ms. Japra said, “The coronavirus pandemic is affecting us in more ways that we can see, the effects of the pandemic on the New Berlin-Brandenburg Airport is one of them. Unfortunately, many jobs in the aerospace industry including airport workers/ flight attendants are likely to be at risk due to the decrease in travellers. I hope that we are able to get back to our normal lives sooner than we are expecting, for ourselves, but more importantly, for those who depend on it.” 

Photo credit: “Berlin Brandenburg Airport” by Jonworth-eu is licensed under CC BY 2.0