BER government terminal inaugurated: Julia Klöckner landed first on

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A passer-by at the old Schönefeld Airport, which is now called BER Terminal 5.

Photo: Kay Nietfeld / DPA

With the arrival of Agriculture Minister Julia Klöckner from Luxembourg on Wednesday, the government terminal at the new capital city airport BER went into operation.

From now on, all flights of the Federal President, the Chancellor and their ministers will be handled there with the Bundeswehr's readiness to fly, and guests of the Federal Government from abroad will also be received.

The entire airport should then be opened in ten days on October 31.  

Klöckner returned from a meeting of EU agriculture ministers in Luxembourg and, according to a spokesman, arrived at the new capital city airport around 9 a.m.

It is still unclear who will be the first state guest to be received there.

Because of the corona pandemic, top politicians have also severely restricted their travel.

Relocation after 26 years of flight operations via Tegel

For 26 years, the white VIP aircraft of the Luftwaffe with the black, red and gold stripes landed in Tegel to pick up members of the government and their delegations or to bring them back to Berlin.

From now on, only the helicopters of the Bundeswehr air readiness will fly from there.

The home airport of the aircraft will initially remain Cologne / Bonn.

The move to Berlin is not expected to take place until the end of the 2020s.

The flight readiness has 19 aircraft of different types and three helicopters for the transport of people.

Because of the long delays, the head of Berlin Airport, Engelbert Lütke Daldrup, is not planning a big celebration for the upcoming opening of the new airport on October 31st.

Due to the problems with the construction of the major airport, Berlin and all of Germany have become a "laughing stock".

"We German engineers were ashamed," the manager recently said.

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caw / dpa