Berlin Airports kick off the winter season

11.10.2012

Berlin's Schönefeld and Tegel Airports are ready for the 2012/2013 winter season. The airport company has up to 200 employees and 80 vehicles specially earmarked for winter services. Representatives of the airport company, GlobeGround Berlin, Lufthansa, airberlin and German Air Traffic Control have been meeting regularly since June 2012 within the framework of a workgroup set up specially for this purpose.

All of the processes are controlled and monitored centrally in the Airport Control Center (ACC) guaranteeing short information paths and efficient co-ordination between everyone involved. As was already the case during high-traffic months, passengers in Tegel will be supported by additional airport company employees as well as personnel secured from external service-providers during the 2012/2013 winter season.

"Winter operations represent a challenge for any airport and Tegel in par-ticular in view of the high passenger numbers. But we are ready – the per-sonnel is available, the stores are full and we have collaborated with our partners to optimise the processes and improve communication. Now we are able to react even faster in critical weather conditions", claims Prof. Dr. Rainer Schwarz, Management Spokesman at Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg GmbH.

Thomas Kropp, authorised signatory on the Lufthansa Management Board for Berlin / Brandenburg: "No other airline extended its Berlin flight plan last June as extensively as Lufthansa. We have significantly increased our Ber-lin fleet and the number of destinations served non-stop from Berlin – by Lufthansa and our subsidiaries – has more than quadrupled to around 50. The fact that we are obliged to handle this flight range planned for BER in Tegel for the time being obviously represents a particularly major challenge with regard to the pending winter. But thanks to the positive experiences of the past few months during which collaboration with everyone involved – the airport company, GlobeGround Berlin and airline employees – worked out perfectly well, we are certain that by joining forces, we will also handle the coming winter in Tegel successfully."

"We are well-prepared for the winter and especially as regards de-icing: as a precaution, we have procured a total of five new de-icing vehicles, trained even more personnel and stocked up on supplies of de-icing fluid", adds Bernhard Alvensleben, Managing Director at GlobeGround Berlin.

Service information for travellers

As a general rule, winter represents a particular challenge for all carriers. We recommend that flight passengers obtain information on the current situation at the airports and flight status before departure. Passengers will receive information on flights booked from the respective airline or travel agent. Flight information is also available around the clock through the hotline +49 1805 000186 (landline price: 14 ct/min.; max. 42 ct/min. from mobile phones).

Travellers can also register for the free "SMS and fly" service at www.berlin-airport.de which supplies up-to-date status information on flights within the 24 hours preceding take-off. As a general rule, passengers and visitors should plan more time for travelling to the airport. The Verkehrsinformation-szentrale Berlin (VMZ - traffic information centre in Berlin) provides up-to-date information on the current traffic situation online at www.vmz-info.de. The airline apologises for any delays or inconvenience experienced by passengers.