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The new BER airport would be bankrupt when it opened on October 31, 2020 if Berlin, Brandenburg and the federal government of their airport company (FBB) did not transfer millions immediately. This stems from a letter from Secretary of State for Federal Finance Bettina Hagedorn (SPD) to the Bundestag’s budget committee, which is supposed to give the green light for the immediate release of crown funds to the FBB on Wednesday without the approval of aid from the EU. That is “temporarily unavoidable”.
Of the 300 million euros that the three owners had promised to FBB as a capital increase for 2020 due to the fall of Corona in air traffic, now 99 million will be transferred as a “direct subsidy” and 201 million as a loan pending approval. .
But even after that, the financial situation of the extremely poor and indebted society, caused by the BER debacle, exacerbated by the pandemic, will not improve. According to information from this newspaper, in the worst case, that is, with stagnant air traffic, the company will need around 700 million euros from the owners in 2021, from Berlin and Brandenburg each 268 million euros. These figures are currently calculated by shareholders, at FBB and on the supervisory board.
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If things go a little better, it would take 500 million euros. That’s the current likely scenario for FBB management, assuming air traffic will hit roughly half the 2019 level next year. FBB already relies heavily on Corona aid of 300 million euros for this year.
“Without the funding commitment from the shareholders, the solvency of FBB would not have been assured by 2020,” says Hagedorn’s letter, which insists on speedy approval. This is because “FBB needs part of the committed funds to guarantee its liquidity … by October 2020 at the latest”.
There is a deficit of 1.5 billion euros by 2024
Brandenburg’s cabinet wants to approve the draft budget for 2021 on Tuesday, which must also contain an FBB syringe. Finance Minister Katrin Lange (SPD) had already described the government’s line on BER in May as follows: “As shareholders, we have a duty to protect the company from bankruptcy.”
FBB will lack around 1.5 billion euros by 2024. If Brussels does not approve new public aid, the solution would be partial privatization, which until now only the Berlin Senate has strictly rejected by the owners.
