EU Approves Berlin Brandenburg Airport Financing

The European Commission cleared EUR654.5 million euros (USD$892.1 million) of capital increases on Wednesday to finance the construction of Berlin Brandenburg International (BBI) airport to replace three former airports.

The Commission, which regulates competition in the 27-nation European Union, also approved a 10 percent guarantee for up to EUR2.4 billion from the public shareholder of the airport operator Flughafen Berlin Schoenefeld and EUR74 million in an infrastructure grant.

The EU executive said in a statement it would not raise objections to the aid.

The proposed project would develop a single airport with two parallel runways and an operating capacity of 45 million passengers a year.

The total investment cost for the airport is EUR3.6 billion and will be only partially financed -- up to 27 percent of the total cost -- through capital increases of the public shareholder.

The rest of the financing will be made up from the airport's own resources, the statement said.

After German reunification, Berlin had three airports -- Berlin Schoenefeld, Tegel which will close when the new airport opens and Tempelhof, which was in the city itself but was closed in late 2008.

The new airport will be built on the site of Berlin Schoenefeld airport and will have a new terminal with a starting capacity of 22-25 million passengers.

The Commission said the concentration of aviation activity at one single airport outside the city would cut noise and emissions, and there would be no need to fly over densely populated areas.

The increased energy efficiency of the buildings at the new airport will lead to a reduction of carbon dioxide emissions, the EU executive said.