Route of the month - London to Berlin

Alex McWhirter looks at how new services can benefit business travellers. This month: London to Berlin. Passengers were all set to fly into Germany’s capital via the new Berlin Brandenburg (BER) airport from June 3. But problems with its fire security systems have meant the opening has been postponed until March 17 next year. In the meantime, flights will continue to operate into Tegel (as they do now) and Schonefeld. The city’s oldest airport, Tempelhof – which opened in the mid-thirties and was the world’s first, and probably its finest, “close-in” city airfield (see Centre stage ) – closed in 2008. And now Tegel, which opened in 1960 during the Cold War era, will share the same fate. It will shut once BER opens. Berlin Brandenburg occupies the site of Schonefeld airport, which was the gateway to East Berlin in Soviet times. Schonefeld will continue to operate with its existing airlines.When Brandenburg opens, it will offer passengers a brand new terminal and extra runway capacity. A six-track station beneath the terminal will be served by trains linking BER to both Berlin (e3 for the 30-minute journey) and other areas of Germany. A new motorway link means that even the west of Berlin can be reached by car in 30-40 minutes. While we may miss Tempelhof and, from next March, Tegel, there is no escaping that they were built for another era. Because of its short runway, Tempelhof handled few flights in its last decade, while Tegel could not cope with the extra demand placed upon it post-reunification. So the enlarged BER will have the capacity to provide Berliners with more flights to more destinations. Lufthansa is taking advantage of the new facilities by boosting its services to and from the German capital (these will operate from Tegel until BER opens). And not before time. According to aviation consultancy CAPA, the airline controls 44 per cent of the German market but is under-represented in Berlin. Lufthansa intends to base 15 planes in Berlin (compared with nine at present) and to serve no fewer than 38 cities compared with eight currently. Almost all of these will be in Europe and, all told, Lufthansa will be increasing the number of seats by 40 per cent. New UK services include daily flights to both Birmingham and Manchester. But Tegel is already a busy airport. Can it cope with all these extra flights? A Lufthansa spokesperson said that “there may be some fluctuations in timings to accommodate all the new operations at Tegel” but that this would not affect the UK services. Who flies there From Heathrow, Lufthansa will continue with its three-times daily service. These will continue to be operated by Bmi under contract until the end of October, when Lufthansa will take over, again thrice daily. But British Airways, with its five daily flights, has more services than any other carrier. Ryanair flies up to twice a day from Stansted, while Easyjet offers twice-daily flights from Luton and a thrice-daily service out of Gatwick. Air Berlin withdrew from the Stansted route a few years ago. Today the carrier is a member of Oneworld and has re-entered the London route under a codeshare deal with BA. Fares Prices vary widely depending on when you travel, how far ahead you book and how much flexibility you require. But for a short midweek stay booked a couple of weeks ahead, you would typically pay upwards of £200 with Lufthansa for economy class, with business class priced at upwards of £539. With BA, the equivalent fares would be upwards of £218 and £798. Before the addition of ancillary fees, Ryanair charges upwards of £45. Easyjet markets both regular and Flexi fares. Regular fares before ancillary fees start at upwards of £80 from Gatwick and £50 from Luton. Flexi fares, which include ancillary fees, start at about £260 out of Gatwick and around £265 out of Luton.