Simultaneous runway ops return

In a bid to “ensure stable flight operations”, simultaneous runway use resumed at Berlin/Brandenburg on the first day of December 2021.

According to bosses, this outcome was attributed to the advancement of winter weather conditions. Consequently, with the site’s pair of airstrips – 07L/25R (11,811ft) and 07R/25L (13,123ft) – now both active, snow and ice on one can be cleared, while the other always remains operational. Before the move, Brandenburg’s runways had been used on a rotating basis for the previous eight months.

 

Winter operations at Berlin's Brandenburg Airport
Winter operations at Berlin's Brandenburg Airport. Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg GmbH / Günter Wicker

Aletta von Massenbach, chief executive officer of Berlin Brandenburg GmbH, commented: “Using just one runway in the past months was necessary from a business and operational perspective. We were able to reduce our expenditure, yet still manage the increasing number of flight movements since the summer. Looking to the winter months, but especially in view of the increase in passenger numbers forecast for the year ahead, we are now using both [airstrips] again. Using two runways at once also ensures more stable winter flight operations, more routine processes for staff, and thus a return to some sort of airport normality.”

The German hub also remains bullish about increasing traffic levels. For example, between December 2021 and March 2022 it expects to “at least double the number of take-offs and landings” in comparison to the same period a year before where it had recorded between 3,000 and 4,600 flight movements.

The Berlin gateway – which covers a total area roughly 3,632 acres in size – officially commenced operations on October 31, 2020.