Recent figures show that Berlin had greater airport passenger traffic than ever before, reaching 12.4 million passengers in the first half of 2013, which is 4.4% more than in the same period last year beating its own records.
The two main airports of Berlin, Schönefeld and Tegel, had different traffic evolution tough. While Berlin Tegel Airport experienced a high increase in traffic, with 9.2 million passengers (over 9% increase), the Schönefeld Airport had only 3.2 million passengers (about 7% decrease), but this was mainly due to the relocation of German Wings company from Schönefeld to Tegel. The number of flights also increased during the same period, but not as highly as the passenger traffic.
There are many reasons behind the steady increase in passenger traffic for the Berlin airports. More and more people are using flights as a means of transportation, compared to the past, Today, traveling by plane is not a luxury anymore, and while many important companies lowered their prices, low-cost companies stepped in, with budget flights over short and medium distances.
Also, more and more people are beginning to use planes as a means to travel for leisure purposes, visiting distant destinations like Berlin, or using major city connections to reach other destinations. This is once again proven by the increasing number of tourists registered in the German capital, with higher percentages of growth over the last years.
Germany has also become one of the leader countries of the world and is one of the main industrialized countries for many years. As a result, more and more people travel to cities in Germany and mainly to Berlin for business purposes. Another important reason behind the traffic growth for the Berlin airports is the rapid development of new and old source markets, especially in Asian and American continents. More people are traveling to Europe from distant countries and Berlin is one of their top destinations. Considering the size and development of the Berlin airports, travellers also use them as a transit stop on their way to other destinations in Germany.