(Fighting against New Coronary Pneumonia) The epidemic caused a cliff drop in passenger flow
China News Agency, Berlin, May 20 (Reporter Peng Dawei) Due to the new crown epidemic, the passenger flow has fallen off the cliff. The German Berlin-Brandenburg Airport Company announced on the 20th that the capital of the country, Berlin, is currently the largest airport Tegel in operation. The airport is scheduled to be temporarily closed from June 15 for a period of two months. Due to the opening of Berlin ’s new airport on October 31, CEO Dalderup of the airport company expressed “not very optimistic” about the possibility of the reopening of Tegel Airport after August 15.
The two airports currently in operation in the Berlin area are Tegel in Berlin and Schönefeld in neighbouring Brandenburg. Since the opening date of the new airport "Willie Brandt Airport" has been postponed since 2011, Tegel Airport has had to "extend service" so far.
Since the outbreak of the new crown epidemic in Europe, Germany has successively adopted anti-epidemic measures such as restricting leisure travel among the states and restricting the entry of citizens from third countries outside the EU. According to aviation statistics released by Berlin-Brandenburg Airport in April of this year, 726 passenger flights took off and landed in Berlin in April, a decrease of (96%) compared to the same period last year. Among them, Teger Airport took off and landed 622 sorties, a drop of 96%. From January to April 2020, passenger flights at Tegel Airport dropped by 43.8%.
According to the Berlin-Brandenburg Broadcasting Corporation, the total daily passenger flow of the two major airports in Berlin is only about 2,000. Tegel Airport, which has deactivated the main terminal since mid-March and uses only the smaller terminal C, still costs 7.5 million euros per month.
On the 20th of this month, the shareholders' meeting of the Berlin-Brandenburg Airport Company passed a resolution to temporarily close Tegel Airport from June 15 on the premise of ensuring uninterrupted civil aviation traffic in Berlin and unrestricted special planes of the German Federal Government. German media reports pointed out that the closing period is initially set at two months. According to legal procedures, although the three parties of the German Federal Government, the city of Berlin and the Brandenburg State have reached consensus on this, the decision to close the Tegel Airport is still subject to approval by the Berlin City Transport Authority at the end of May Only then can it take effect.
As for the possibility of resuming use of Tegel Airport from August 15 to the original suspension period of November 8, the airport company's CEO Dardrup said recently that this needs to meet the number of passengers to be restored to 5 per day At the level of 10,000 people, he expressed "not so optimistic" about achieving this goal within a few months.
According to the German "Times Online" report, as of 17 o'clock on the 20th local time, a total of 178,614 cases of new crowns were diagnosed in Germany, 156,802 were cured, and 8,318 died. (Finish)