Berlin Brandenburg Airport handled 26 million passengers in 2025 and is approaching the 30 million mark, making it Germany's third-busiest gateway after Lufthansa's Frankfurt and Munich hubs. Yet its chief executive, Aletta von Massenbach, says the airport's future lies not in hub operations but in point-to-point traffic — a segment that now accounts for 70% of BER's business.

The airport, which opened in 2020 after years of construction delays and cost overruns, consolidated three predecessors: Tegel, Schönefeld and Tempelhof, the latter closed in 2008. Von Massenbach, CEO since 2021 after a year as CFO and CCO and prior senior roles at Fraport, acknowledged the airport still operates below its theoretical potential.

Part of the gap is structural. Air Berlin, the carrier once expected to anchor the airport, ceased operations before BER opened. Domestic traffic tells the sharpest story: 3 million domestic passengers in 2025 against 8.6 million handled by Tegel and Schönefeld combined before 2020. Rail modal shift, remote work and stricter corporate short-haul travel policies have cut demand.

"We still have acceptable connectivity to the two German hubs, Frankfurt and Munich, but both are at 50% compared to how it was before," von Massenbach said in a September interview. Frequencies to key European business destinations have also thinned, while leisure traffic thrives — supported by Berlin's position as Europe's third-ranked city for overnight stays, with more than 30 million per year, behind only London and Paris.

The terminal estate reflects the troubled build. Terminal One, long delayed, arrived "a bit outdated and a bit expensive." The airport has since installed new self-service kiosks, expanded immigration capacity by 50% and equipped 24 security lanes with new-generation CTEX scanners. The remaining lanes will be upgraded over the next year, bringing all checkpoints to 100% CTEX technology and triggering a reconfiguration of Terminal One's central security area alongside enlarged commercial space. "We are bringing Terminal One to the 21st century," she said.

Capacity is not a constraint. Two independent parallel runways and ample apron space give BER headroom that most large European airports lack.

On hubs, von Massenbach was blunt. "The airport is hub-ready, because we have all the infrastructure, but if you don't have an airline using it as a hub... you won't be one," she said, ruling out Lufthansa, which she said will not hub anywhere in Germany beyond Frankfurt and Munich for business-model reasons. "The carriers growing in Europe are point-to-point... You need to be point-to-point ready."

That positioning collides with Ryanair's April 2026 announcement that it will close its Berlin base, citing high costs. Von Massenbach denied airport-controlled charges had risen — she said charges have remained "basically stable" since 2020 despite inflation and energy prices — but agreed with the industry's core complaint: German aviation tax and regulatory costs have doubled against 2019. "Even if we said 'Ryanair flies for free' and waived our airport charges, we would still be as expensive as any airport in Spain," she said, adding this contravenes the EU framework for airport charges and the user-pays principle. Eurowings and Wizz Air, she noted, continue to grow at BER.

Long-haul remains the growth frontier. Middle East traffic grew 44% in 2025, Qatar Airways operates 21 weekly frequencies, and a Germany-UAE agreement after more than 20 years of negotiations opens Berlin to Emirates, which originally targeted a December 2026 launch pending confirmation. Air Canada deployed its first Airbus A321XLR across the Atlantic to Berlin — "exactly the right aircraft for a market like Berlin," von Massenbach said — joining United to Newark, Delta to New York, seasonal Air Transat service to Toronto and Hainan Airlines to Beijing. Underserved markets persist: Norse Atlantic's Los Angeles nonstop failed on insufficient yields, and no carrier has picked up Bangkok despite a catchment von Massenbach believes could fill a flight.

Financial repair continues after the airport refinanced its construction debt with a bank loan, though she conceded "the financial situation is still not ideal." Berlin's city government, which holds 37.5% of shares and elected a left-wing coalition days after the interview, will be the fourth administration since her appointment. "We worked well with all of these governments," she said. "So, I'm not nervous about it."