Germany-based airline, Lufthansa has confirmed that it will go ahead with its new routes to Berlin from the UK, despite the opening of Berlin’s new airport being postponed.
The company has confirmed that the new routes, to Berlin in Germany from Manchester and Birmingham in the UK, will go ahead on June 3 this year as previously scheduled, although it had initially timed the inauguration of the flights to coincide with the opening of Berlin’s new Brandenburg Airport. Owing to the delay in the opening of the new airport, the flights have now been scheduled to land at Berlin’s existing, Tegel Airport.
In addition, Lufthansa went on to confirm that its service to Berlin out of Heathrow, which runs three times daily and has traditionally used Tegel Airport, will continue to do so beyond the date that it was expected to switch to the new airport.
The delay in opening the new airport is reported to be due to problems with fire security systems and it now seems unlikely that it will be open within 2012. Lufthansa and Air Berlin were both due to commence operations there this year and are both reportedly planning to claim damages for the disruption caused to their schedules.
Lufthansa’s expansion plans, which have been tailored to facilities at the new airport, included an increase from nine to fifteen aircraft, enabling it to increase the number of cities that it serves from Berlin to thirty-eight from eight at present. The scheduling for all of this expansion has had to be adapted to facilities at Tegel.
