That was almost 90 per cent fewer passengers than in the first six months of 2019 – before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, according to figures from the airport operator.

At that time, almost 17.5 million passengers flew through Berlin airports in the first half of the year. The German capital had two airports in operation back then. They have since been consolidated into Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER) on the city’s outskirts.

While the number of travellers at BER has increased significantly in the past few months, it remains an open question whether the airport will hit its passenger goal number for the year.

The head of the airport company, Engelbert Luetke Daldrup, said he was hoping for 10 million passengers for all of 2021.