Berlin, 17 May 2012 The capital's new airport, Berlin Brandenburg (BER) will now open on 17 March next year. The new date was today announced by the Supervisory Board of Flughafen Berlin-Brandenburg GmbH after the opening scheduled for 3 June was postponed.

"The ten-month postponement of the opening date is surprising and annoying," says Burkhard Kieker, CEO of visitBerlin. "It is now top priority to ensure that the airport is well prepared for the launch. We look forward to the opening of BER as it will greatly improve the accessibility of our city.

The delayed opening will not have a foreseeable impact on the existing tourism and congress business. However, visitBerlin fears that it could have an adverse effect on future longhaul destinations. The postponement of the opening of BER could also lead to delays in airlines committing to new intercontinental routes which are of great importance to Berlin as a congress location.

Until the opening of the new airport, visitors and locals can easily reach Berlin through the existing airports Schönefeld and Tegel as before. All flights to Berlin can be carried out as scheduled. The extended summer flight schedules of the three largest airlines airberlin, Deutsche Lufthansa and EasyJet are being maintained.

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