Landing Strip
Berlin's New Airport (Finally) Opens
- Finally, Berlin’s new airport is open. We’re not kidding. After a decade of delays, Germany’s capital has a new gateway to the world. The two-terminal, two-runway facility is located at the same site as Berlin Schönefeld airport. It can handle 40m passengers a year, which is not much more than half of what Frankfurt airport actually handled in 2019.
Sure enough, airlines like Ryanair complained pre-crisis that it wouldn’t be big enough. Berlin is somewhat of an odd airline market. It’s the capital of the world’s fourth-largest economy, with a large population. But it’s a much lower-income metro area than cities like Frankfurt, Munich and Dusseldorf. Low-cost carriers like its leisure appeal. But for Lufthansa, it’s a mere spoke city feeding into its Frankfurt and Munich hubs.
- Chicago O’Hare opened another new runway last week, the latest milestone in two-decade long expansion and modernization project. The giant project has now delivered four new runways, with the extension of another due for completion next year. Also next year, O’Hare will open a major new international terminal. The airport is a major hub for both United and American, supported by a population larger than all other U.S. cities except New York and Los Angeles. Southwest, whose largest airport is Chicago Midway, will start serving O’Hare soon as well. In total, O’Hare currently has eight active runways.