Berlin Airports remain firmly on course for record-breaking results

In total, from January to November, the airports handled 20,709,362 passengers, which is 1,303,716 more than in the same period of the previous year (+6.7 per cent). "With these figures, we will definitely pass the magic 22 million passenger mark for the first time in the history of Berlin Airports", said Berlin Airports' Chief Executive Officer, Prof. Dr. Rainer Schwarz.

The new air traffic tax has already cast a shadow across the new year: the Irish carrier Ryanair has informed Berlin Airports that it will be discontinuing its two German domestic flights from Berlin to Bremen and Weeze. Prior to this, Ryanair had cut the service between Berlin Schoenefeld and Hahn Airport, citing pricing pressure from the additional expense of the new air traffic tax. The air traffic tax will be introduced in Germany at the beginning of 2011; in future a tax of €16 will be levied on all domestic flights within Germany. "We regret Ryanair's decision", said Schwarz. "As we predicted, the air traffic tax will have a significant impact on the route revenue of many airlines." In 2010, Ryanair flew around 500,000 passengers on its three inner-German services between Berlin and Bremen, Weeze and Hahn.

Schoenefeld Airport reported 568,831 passengers in November, which is an increase of 9.2 per cent over the same month of the previous year.

At Tegel Airport 1,299,444 passengers were reported for the same period, an increase of 10.7 per cent over November 2009.

Together, Schoenefeld and Tegel reported 20,219 flight movements, a month-on-month increase of 4.6 per cent.

Air freight again displayed positive growth: in the past month 2,529 tons of cargo were flown, which is an increase of 31.9 per cent than in November 2009. In total, between January and November, 24,663 tons of cargo were handled, which is an increase of 34.0 per cent compared with the same period of the previous year.

The traffic statistics of Berlin Airports (final figures) can be found online.