Berlin is getting a new airport. The new building, named after former chancellor Willy Brandt, should be able to handle 27 million passengers annually. But the bad news for Luxury travellers: Berlin’s (convenient) Tegel airport will close, and few new direct international flights are planned.

The Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER) is slated to handle 27 million people per year.

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Despite protests from Berliners German and non-German alike, Tegel airport is closing in June when Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER) south of the city starts operation.

This airport switch is a mixed blessing for luxury travellers to the German capital. While the new airport will feature countless luxury shops and eating opportunities, it will be significantly farther away from the city’s center.

Trip from airport to center will take longer

The Berlin airport authority says the 20-kilometer trip from BER to Berlin Mitte will take 20 minutes – but this discounts waiting for trains and having to transfer on the subway to inner city suburbs. Contrast this with Tegel’s centrality – which allows taxi takers to get from the airport to most points in central Berlin for 20 Euros and within 15 minutes – and the drawbacks for luxury travellers are clear.

The airport authority says the new airport can handle 27 million visitors a year – about five million more than Schönefeld and Tegel currently handle. Expansion plans could allow the airport to grow to handle 45 million passengers annually.

No new long-haul flights planned

While Air Berlin will continue to offer direct flights to destinations in Asia and the US, a spokesman for Germany’s largest airline, Lufthansa, told the World Luxury Guide that the airline will only add European and medium-haul flights when BER opens.

The airline says it will increase the number of nonstop-routes to destinations within Europe and the Middle East (Beirut and Tel Aviv) from 8 to 38, and the number of weekly Berlin-connections from approximately 650 to more than 1000.

“But for the time being, Lufthansa has no actual plans for long-haul flights from Berlin’s new airport BER,” spokesman Wolfgang Weber said in an emailed response to questions.

“We want to see our increased European network becoming successful. Then - maybe in one or two years - we might talk about destinations in America or Asia,” Weber added.