Berlin Schönefeld Airport

Berlin Schönefeld Airport
Flughafen Berlin-Schönefeld
Summary
Airport type Public
Operator Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg GmbH
Serves Berlin, Germany
Location Schönefeld
Focus city for
Elevation AMSL 157 ft / 48 m
Coordinates 52°22′43″N 013°31′14″E / 52.37861°N 13.52056°E / 52.37861; 13.52056Coordinates: 52°22′43″N 013°31′14″E / 52.37861°N 13.52056°E / 52.37861; 13.52056
Website berlin-airport.de
Map
SXF
Location relative to Berlin
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
07L/25R 3,600 11,881 Asphalt
Statistics (2017)
Passengers Increase 12,900,000
Sources: German AIP at EUROCONTROL[1]

Berlin Schönefeld Airport ( Flughafen Berlin-Schönefeld ) (IATA: SXF, ICAO: EDDB) is the secondary international airport of Berlin, the capital of Germany. It is located 18 km (11 mi) southeast[1] of Berlin near the town of Schönefeld in the state of Brandenburg and borders Berlin's southern boundary. It is the smaller of the two airports in Berlin, after Berlin Tegel Airport, and is a base for Germania, EasyJet and Ryanair. In 2017 the airport handled 12.9 million passengers.

Schönefeld Airport was the major civil airport of East Germany (GDR) and the only airport of the former East Berlin. Part of Schönefeld's existing infrastructure is set to be incorporated into the neighbouring Berlin Brandenburg Airport, [2] scheduled to open in late 2020.[3] Schönefeld's terminals are intended to be used until at least 2023 to handle low-cost carriers as part of the new airport.[4]

History

Construction of Interflug's new maintenance hangar in 1961
Eastern bloc airlines TAROM, Aeroflot and Interflug in 1990

First years and World War II

On 15 October 1934 construction began to build three 800m long runways to serve the Henschel aircraft plant in Schönefeld. By the end of the Second World War, over 14,000 aircraft had been built. On 22 April 1945, the facilities were occupied by Soviet troops, and the plant was dismantled and demolished. By late 1947, the railway connection had been repaired and agricultural machinery was built and repaired on the site.

In 1946, the Soviet Air Forces moved from Johannisthal Air Field to Schönefeld, including the civil airline Aeroflot. In 1947, the Soviet Military Administration in Germany approved the construction of a civilian airport at the site.

A stipulation of the Four Power Agreement following World War II was a total ban on German carriers' participation in air transport to Berlin, where access was restricted to US, British, French and Soviet airlines. Since Schönefeld airport was located outside the city boundaries of Berlin, this restriction did not apply. Thus, aircraft of the East German flag carrier Interflug could use Schönefeld airport, while West German Lufthansa was denied access to Tegel or Tempelhof airports.

Development after German reunification

Berlin Schönefeld Airport has seen a major increase in passenger numbers over recent years, which was caused by the opening of bases for both easyJet and Germanwings. In 2008, the airport served 6.6 million passengers.

Following German reunification in 1990, operating three separate airports became increasingly cost prohibitive, leading the Berlin legislature to pursue plans for a single airport that would be more efficient and would decrease the amount of aircraft noise from airports within the city. Therefore, it was decided to build Berlin Brandenburg Airport at the current site of Schönefeld Airport, originally scheduled to open in late 2012. For various reasons, mainly issues with the fire alarm/safety system, the opening has been postponed to 2019 or later.

The new airport will share only one runway with the existing one – the current runway will become the north runway of the new airport. Most of the old Schönefeld Airport, including the terminal and apron areas, will undergo complete urban redevelopment following its closure. Part of the old apron area will be used by the future new passenger terminal of the German government used for state visits and other state flight operations.[5]

At the start of the winter season in 2012 Germanwings left Schönefeld for Berlin-Tegel to maintain closer operations within the Lufthansa Group there.[6] However, to provide competition for Ryanair's new routes, Germanwings announced a return to Schönefeld in addition to their Tegel operations from October 2015.[7]

Aer Lingus also announced it would switch airports within Berlin, from Schönefeld to Tegel, by March 2015.[8] Meanwhile, Ryanair announced the establishment of their sixth German base in Schönefeld by 27 October 2015 by deploying five aircraft to the airport and adding 16 new routes.[9]

On 2 May 2015, aircraft departing from Schönefeld became the first commercial flights to use the southern runway of the new Berlin Brandenburg Airport, which temporarily became Schönefeld's only runway while its own, which will become the northern runway of the new airport, was renovated.[10]

Extension work at Schönefeld Airport was completed in 2016. Terminal B was extended by approx. 600 square metres and the baggage area was also enlarged by 40 per cent. Terminal D2, an entirely new arrival terminal was built west of Terminal D. Spanning almost 3,800 square metres, this building features three baggage carousels and the coach parking area was relocated to a new area in P6[11]

The airport is still seeing exceptionally high growth of passenger numbers with Berlin's economic growth. As of November 2016, the airport operates near full capacity despite several additions to the infrastructure in recent years.[4]

Terminals

Terminal A main hall
Terminal D check-in area

Schönefeld Airport consists of the four terminals A, B, C and D.[12] These terminals are located next to each other but have separate landside areas; however they are connected through a joint airside concourse. Terminal C has no check-in facilities, it is used exclusively for passengers clearing security checks to enter the airside boarding gates. Due to a lack of space, there are not as many facilities as those at many other international airports. There are some shops, however, including duty-free, newsagents, a few fast food restaurants and a single airline lounge.

Terminal A

The main building is the original part of the airport. It houses check-in for Terminals A and B. Terminal A features check-in counters A01–A18, with the largest user being Ryanair alongside several other airlines like Aeroflot.

Currently, it hosts the arrival terminal of EasyJet.

Terminal B

Terminal B, located in a side wing, was originally reserved for transit passengers to and from West Berlin who took advantage of cheaper air fares and package tours arranged by an East German travel agency. Nowadays, it is used exclusively by EasyJet with check-in counters B20–B29 and has been refurbished in recent years. The airside consists of three jet bridges as well as several walk-boarding aircraft stands located at Pier 3a, an extension that was opened in 2005.

Terminal C

Terminal C was originally built to accommodate flights to Israel. It was reconfigured in 2008 to handle sightseeing trips and flights in connection with special events.[13] It was further reconfigured in 2015 to provide access to all terminal gates. To reduce congestion in other terminals, it now houses additional security checkpoints for passengers who are checked in and have checked their luggage or only carry hand luggage.[14]

Terminal D

Terminal D was opened in December 2005 due to rapidly growing passenger numbers. Being nearly identical to Terminal C at Berlin Tegel Airport, it features check-in counters D40–D57, which are mainly used by Ryanair, Condor, Germania, and Norwegian Air Shuttle. It does not feature jet bridges but several walk-boarding stands. In November 2016, the new 4500sqm large arrivals area D2 has been opened right next to Terminal D.[4]

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Berlin Schönefeld Airport:[15]

AirlinesDestinations
Aeroflot Moscow–Sheremetyevo, Saint Petersburg
Air Algérie Seasonal: Algiers
Air VIA Seasonal charter: Burgas, Varna
Astra Airlines Seasonal charter: Tel Aviv–Ben Gurion
Belavia Minsk
Bulgarian Air Charter Seasonal charter: Burgas, Varna
Corendon Airlines Seasonal: Antalya
easyJet Amsterdam, Athens (ends 27 October 2018),[16] Barcelona, Basel/Mulhouse, Bordeaux, Bristol, Budapest, Copenhagen, Geneva, Glasgow, Larnaca, Lisbon, Liverpool, Ljubljana (begins 29 October 2018), London–Gatwick, London–Luton, Luxembourg, Lyon, Málaga, Manchester (ends 30 March 2019), Milan–Malpensa, Marseille, Naples, Newcastle, Nice, Palma de Mallorca, Paris–Charles de Gaulle (begins 28 October 2018), Pisa, Pristina, Salzburg, Stockholm–Arlanda (begins 28 October 2018), Tallinn, Tel Aviv–Ben Gurion, Tenerife–South, Thessaloniki, Toulouse, Turin (begins 28 October 2018), Venice, Vienna, Zürich
Seasonal: Aqaba (begins 3 November 2018), Bastia, Cagliari, Catania, Corfu, Dubrovnik, Faro, Gran Canaria (begins 30 October 2018), Heraklion, La Palma, Lanzarote (begins 28 October 2018), Olbia, Pula, Rhodes, Split, Varna, Zadar
EgyptAir Cairo
El Al Tel Aviv–Ben Gurion (resumes 15 October 2018)[17]
FlyEgypt Seasonal charter: Sharm El Sheikh[18]
Freebird Airlines Seasonal charter: Antalya
Georgian Airways Tbilisi[19]
Germania[20] Antalya, Beirut, Hurghada, Marsa Alam, Paphos, Tehran–Imam Khomeini
Seasonal: Adana (ends 31 October 2018),[20] Bodrum, Burgas, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Heraklion, Ibiza, Kos, Palma de Mallorca (ends 4 November 2018),[20] Rhodes, Sharm El Sheikh, Tenerife–South
Norwegian Air Shuttle Bergen, Copenhagen,[21] Oslo–Gardermoen, Stockholm–Arlanda, Tenerife–South
Seasonal: Stavanger
Nouvelair Seasonal: Monastir[22]
Jet2.com Seasonal: Leeds/Bradford
Pegasus Airlines Istanbul–Sabiha Gökçen
Seasonal: Antalya
Ryanair Alicante, Athens, Barcelona, Bari, Belfast–International, Bergamo, Billund,[23] Bologna, Bratislava, Brussels, Bucharest, Budapest, Catania, Cologne/Bonn,[24] Dublin, East Midlands, Edinburgh (begins 28 October 2018),[25] Faro (begins 29 October 2018), Fuerteventura, Glasgow (ends 27 October 2018),[26] Gran Canaria, Kiev-Boryspil,[27] Kraków,[28] Lanzarote, Lisbon, London–Stansted, Madrid, Málaga, Malta, Manchester, Marrakesh (begins 29 October 2018), Niš, Palermo, Palma de Mallorca, Pisa, Podgorica, Porto, Riga, Rome–Ciampino, Santander, Seville, Sofia, Tenerife–South, Thessaloniki, Toulouse, Treviso, Valencia, Verona, Vilnius
Seasonal: Eilat–Ovda, Kerry, Zadar
Transavia France Nantes
Tunisair Djerba, Enfidha
Wings of Lebanon Charter: Beirut
Wizz Air Budapest, Chișinău, Cluj–Napoca, Kiev-Zhuliany,[29] Kutaisi, Lviv, Skopje, Tuzla
WOW air Reykjavík–Keflavík

Cargo

AirlinesDestinations
FedEx Feeder Gdańsk, Paris–Charles de Gaulle
West Air Sweden Cologne/Bonn

Other facilities

The head office of Private Wings is located in the General Aviation Terminal (Allgemeine Luftfahrt) on the property of Schönefeld Airport.[30][31][32] Before its demise, the East German airline company Interflug had its headquarters on the airport property.[33][34]

Statistics

Aerial view prior to the start of the construction of Berlin Brandenburg Airport
A WOW air Airbus A320-200 at Berlin Schönefeld Airport with Berlin Brandenburg Airport in the background

Annual traffic

Annual Passenger Traffic[35]
Year Passengers % Change
20002,209,444Steady
20011,915,110Decrease -13.3%
20021,688,028Decrease -11.8%
20031,750,921Increase 3.7%
20043,382,106Increase 93.1%
20055,075,172Increase 50%
20066,059,343Increase 19.3%
20076,331,191Increase 4.5%
20086,638,162Increase 4.8%
20096,797,158Increase 2.4%
20107,297,911Increase 7.3%
20117,113,989Decrease -2.5%
20127,097,274Decrease 0.2%
20136,727,306Decrease -5.2%
20147,292,517Increase 8.4%
20158,526,268Increase 17%
201611,652,922Increase 36.6%
201712,900,000Increase 10.7%


Busiest routes

Busiest domestic routes at Schönefeld Airport (2017)[36]
RankDestinationAll passengersOperating airlines
1 Cologne/Bonn 428,703 Ryanair
2 There are no further scheduled domestic services See Berlin-Tegel Airport
Busiest European routes at Schönefeld Airport (2017)[37]
RankDestinationAll passengersOperating airlines
1 London-Gatwick 486,222 Easyjet
2 Barcelona 459,363 Easyjet, Ryanair
3 Basel/Mulhouse 438,698 Easyjet
4 London-Stansted 436,444 Ryanair
5 Moscow-Sheremetyevo 409,388 Aeroflot
Busiest intercontinental routes at Schönefeld Airport (2017) (excl. airports in the European part of Turkey) [38]
RankDestinationAll passengersOperating airlines
1 Tel Aviv-Ben Gurion 290,622 Astra Airlines, Easyjet, El Al
2 Istanbul-Sabiha Gökcen 153,251 Pegasus Airlines
3 Antalya 128,805 Corendon Airlines, Freebird Airlines, Germania, Pegasus Airlines
4 Hurghada 71,213 Corendon Airlines, Germania
5 Cairo 44,071 EgyptAir

Ground transportation

Train

The airport's railway station
Express Connections to Berlin City

Berlin Schönefeld Airport is served by Berlin-Schönefeld Flughafen railway station, a short walking distance through a ground-level covered walkway from the airport terminals A-D. To reach Berlin Central Station (Berlin Hbf) without changing trains, take a regional train (RE Regional-Express or RB Regional-Bahn). These run every 30 minutes and transit Berlin Ostbahnhof, Alexanderplatz, Friedrichstraße, Berlin Central Station (after 30 minutes), Zoologischer Garten, Charlottenburg, and beyond. Berlin S-Bahn lines S9 and S45 run every twenty minutes, but only the S9 goes through Berlin Central Station.

Car

The airport can be reached via the nearby motorway A113 (Exit Schönefeld Süd) which itself is connected to motorways A100 which leads to Berlin city center and A10 which circles around Berlin and connects further to all directions.

Bus

The airport is linked by local BVG bus lines 162 (towards Adlershof) and 171 (towards Neukölln). Additionally the X7 bus service provides a connection to the Berlin U-Bahn network at Rudow Station[39] At night, the underground replacement bus N7 is available.

Accidents and incidents

  • On 14 August 1972, an Ilyushin Il-62 aircraft of Interflug (registered DM-SEA) crashed near Königs Wusterhausen shortly into a flight to Burgas, killing all 156 passenger and crew on board.
  • On 22 November 1977, a Tupolev Tu-134 aircraft of Interflug (registration DM-SCM) crashed upon landing at Schönefeld Airport due to a falsely configured autopilot. There were no fatalities among the 74 passenger and crew, but the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.[40]
  • On 19 August 1978, LOT Polish Airlines Flight 165, a LOT flight from Gdańsk-Rębiechowo Airport to Schönefeld (carried out on a Tupolev Tu-134, registration SP-LGC), was hijacked and forced to land at Tempelhof Airport in West Berlin, thus having been used as a means for escaping the Eastern Bloc. In these cases, perpetrators were usually not charged by Western authorities.[41]
  • On 12 December 1986, Aeroflot Flight 892 an Aeroflot Tupolev Tu-134 (registration CCCP-65795) coming from Minsk Airport crashed in Berlin Bohnsdorf on its approach towards Schönefeld airport, after having attempted to land on a runway that was temporary blocked for construction work, killing 72 of the 82 passengers and crew on board.[42]
  • On 17 June 1989, an Ilyushin Il-62 aircraft of Interflug (registration DDR-SEW) bound for Moscow crashed shortly after take-off into a field near the airport and caught fire. 21 people on board as well as one person on the ground were killed. The East German authorities feared an act of sabotage due to the anniversary of the East German uprising, which led to a delayed aid for injured people. West German rescuers offering help were denied access to the scene. The cause for the accident was later given as a jammed rudder due to a manufacturing defect.[43]
  • On 28 March 2000, a Boeing 737-300 of Germania (registration D-AGES) operating a charter flight on behalf of LTU from Tenerife South Airport to Schönefeld was the subject of an attempted hijack in mid-flight. A passenger forced his way into the cockpit, where he attacked the pilot, leading to a sudden loss of altitude. The perpetrator was restrained and the flight continued to Berlin.[44]
  • On 19 June 2010, a 1944-built, historic Douglas DC-3 D-CXXX of Berlin Air Services crashed shortly after take off on a local sightseeing flight, causing 7 injuries but no fatalities.[45]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "EAD Basic". Ead.eurocontrol.int.
  2. ↑ "The future lies in Schoenefeld". Berlin-airport.de. Archived from the original on 2 May 2011.
  3. ↑ Berlin's new airport to finally open in October 2020 - Reuters, 15 December 2017
  4. 1 2 3 airliners.de - "New arrivals hall to be opened at Schönefeld Airport" (German) 25 November 2016
  5. ↑ "Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg: Regierungsterminal in der Warteschleife | Hauptstadtflughafen – Berliner Zeitung" (in German). Berliner-zeitung.de.
  6. ↑ "Germanwings zieht nach Berlin-Tegel". Spiegel.de. 4 September 2012.
  7. ↑ "Germanwings stellt sich Konkurrenz durch Ryanair". airliners.de. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  8. ↑ "Aer Lingus to switch Berlin flights from Schönefeld to Tegel". ch-aviation. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  9. ↑ "Ryanair will mit Basis in Berlin Fluggastzahlen deutlich steigern". airliners.de. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  10. ↑ "aero.de - Luftfahrt-Nachrichten und -Community". aero.de. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  11. ↑ "Construction work at Schönefeld Airport: Upgrading of federal highway B96a, car park P4 closed". Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg GmbH. 15 April 2016. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
  12. ↑ "Schönefeld Airport layout".
  13. ↑ Event and Show Terminal C Archived 5 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine.
  14. ↑
  15. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 17 March 2015. Retrieved 2015-03-29.
  16. ↑ easyjet.com - Flight Timetables retrieved 28 April 2018
  17. ↑ ch-aviation.com - Israel's El Al to drop UP budget brand 4 January 2018
  18. ↑ https://www.tuifly.com/schedule/presentation/schedulePdfRH.do%5Bpermanent+dead+link%5D
  19. ↑ https://www.georgian-airways.com/en/information/timetable/
  20. 1 2 3 "Book cheap flights". flygermania.com. Retrieved 18 July 2017.
  21. ↑ https://www.norwegian.com/uk/destinations/BerlinSch%C3%B6nefeld-Alldestinations
  22. ↑ Nouvelair expand Germany network
  23. ↑ "Ryanair W17 new routes as of 05MAR17". Routesonline. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
  24. ↑ https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/fr-prod-static-pdf/Suspended+Winter+Services+2017.pdf
  25. ↑ "Ryanair Announces 11 New W18 Routes From Edinburgh". Ryanair DAC. 27 February 2018. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
  26. ↑ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/02/27/ryanair-axes-20-routes-base-glasgow-airport/
  27. ↑ https://www.kyivpost.com/business/ryanair-launch-kyiv-berlin-flights-september-3.html
  28. ↑ http://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/271685/ryanair-w17-new-routes-as-of-05mar17/
  29. ↑ https://wizzair.com/en-gb/information-and-services/about-us/news/2018/04/27/wizz-air-announces-further-expansion-in-kyiv#/
  30. ↑ "Anfahrt GAT Schönefeld." Private Wings. Retrieved on 7 January 2013.
  31. ↑ "Access Business Aviation Center/GAT." Private Wings. Retrieved on 7 January 2013.
  32. ↑ "Imprint." Private Wings. Retrieved on 7 January 2013. "Postal adress: [sic] PRIVATE WINGS Flugcharter GmbH Chief executive officers: Peter Paul Gatz und Andreas Wagner Flughafen Berlin – Schönefeld 12521 Berlin, Germany" and "Delivery address: Private Wings Flugcharter GmbH Waßmannsdorfer Straße 12529 Schönefeld (ehemals Diepensee)"
  33. ↑ "World Airline Directory." Flight International. 26 March 1988. 82. "Head Office: DDR-1189, Berlin-Schönefeld Flughafen, German Democratic Republic."
  34. ↑ "World Airline Directory." Flight International. 26 March 1970. 484. "Head Office: Zentralflughafen. Berlin-Schonefeld, 1189. German Democratic Republic."
  35. ↑ Unsere Flughäfen. "Regionale Stärke, Globaler Anschluss". www.adv.aero (in German).
  36. ↑ DeStatis:
  37. ↑ DeStatis:
  38. ↑ DeStatis:
  39. ↑ "Berlin bus lines. Retrieved 23 December 2009". Bvg.de.
  40. ↑ "Interflug accident of 1977 at the Aircraft Accident Database. Retrieved 23 December 2009". Aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 10 January 2012.
  41. ↑ "LOT highjacking at the Aircraft Accident Database. Retrieved 23 December 2009". Aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 10 January 2012.
  42. ↑ "Aeroflot accident of 1986 at the Aviation Accident Database. Retrieved 23 December 2009". Aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 10 January 2012.
  43. ↑ "Interflug accident of 1989 at the Aviation Accident Database. Retrieved 23 December 2009". Aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 10 January 2012.
  44. ↑ "Germania attempted highjacking at the Aircraft Accident Database. Retrieved 23 December 2009". Aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 10 January 2012.
  45. ↑ "Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 20 June 2010.

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