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Photo: Bernd Friedel / imago images / Bernd Friedel
A terminal at the new capital airport BER is to be closed a few months after opening.
The reason is that because of the corona crisis, far fewer passengers use the airport than expected, as a company spokesman said.
The management is therefore planning to take Terminal 5 offline for one year from March.
The »Berliner Morgenpost« and »BZ« report on this.
Terminal 5 is the handling building of the former GDR central airport Schönefeld, which was built in the 1970s.
It should actually complement BER for several years: So far, Terminals 1 and 2 have been completed, with only Terminal 1 having been opened so far.
Terminal 3 and 4 are being planned.
Until the corona crisis, it looked as if the new building was not enough for the growing number of passengers in Berlin.
At the moment, according to the operator, only a tenth of the passengers use the airport, only a good fifth of the usual flights take place.
Airport boss Engelbert Lütke Daldrup wants to present his plan for Terminal 5 to the company's supervisory board on Friday.
Then there should be talks with the airlines.
The largest customer in Terminal 5 is Ryanair.
The new Willy Brandt Airport has a total of three terminals, in addition to the main Terminal 1, which opened at the end of October, and the newly constructed Terminal 2. The last plan was to put it into operation for the summer flight schedule at the end of March.
Whether the passengers of Ryanair and the other companies from Terminal 5 should check in there or in Terminal 1 is still open.
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mik / mamk / dpa-AFX
