German Air Force VIP Transport Wing's Move to Berlin Brandenburg Airport Delayed to 2036 at Earliest; Cost Estimate Reaches €1.7 Billion

The complete relocation of the German Federal Ministry of Defense's air transport wing from Cologne/Bonn Airport to Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER) will be delayed well into the next decade. Internal federal planning documents, cited by Der Spiegel, indicate that the military and civilian infrastructure at the Schönefeld site is not expected to be ready before 2036. The Federal Agency for Real Estate (BImA), responsible for construction, puts completion of the new government airport within the BER site at between 2036 and 2038.

The project has also grown. Revised plans from 2025 provide for a site of 570,000 square meters, up from the originally planned 304,000, and estimated costs have risen to about €1.7 billion, potentially reaching €2.5 billion with further construction price increases. The Federation of German Taxpayers has criticized the project's scale and budget. The site is to include headquarters, security and operations buildings for around 1,170 employees, large maintenance hangars, new taxiways and an underground refueling facility.

The ministry justifies the larger footprint with fleet modernization: the long-haul fleet has been converted to three Airbus A350-900 aircraft, whose wingspan of nearly 65 meters needs more hangar and apron space than the retired Airbus A340s. Further acquisitions are planned, including replacements for the Airbus A319 and A321 medium-haul aircraft and for the Cougar transport helicopters.

The Taxpayers Federation criticized the 26 planned aircraft parking positions, noting the fleet is currently much smaller. The Defense Ministry rejected the criticism, saying 18 positions are for the Air Force's own aircraft including reserve and maintenance areas, three are special protocol positions for the Federal Foreign Office, four are guest positions for foreign state visits, and one separate area is used exclusively for de-icing.

In 2025, cabinet members under Chancellor Friedrich Merz used the wing's aircraft for 488 regular government flights, against roughly 700 empty and standby flights between Cologne/Bonn and Berlin in the same period. Until the new base is finished, the dual-site structure continues, because aircraft return to North Rhine-Westphalia for maintenance, crew changes and basing.

The physical separation between the seat of government in Berlin and the wing's base in North Rhine-Westphalia dates from the 1999 relocation of the Bundestag and Federal Government. A military section for government flights operated at the former Berlin-Tegel Airport until its closure in autumn 2020.

With BER's opening in October 2020, the government moved into an interim terminal that cost about €70 million. In 2022, the then SPD–Greens–FDP coalition halted plans for a permanent government terminal after cost estimates reached €344 million, opting to keep using the interim terminal.

State-flight bases are among the slowest assets in aviation to change. Aircraft can be replaced within a few years, but hangars, apron space and fuel infrastructure are tied to site planning, budgets and political cycles that run far longer. Here the fleet has already moved to the A350-900 while the facilities built to support it are not due until 2036 at the earliest, so the aircraft are in service well ahead of their permanent home.

The flight figures show what that gap costs in practice. Roughly 700 empty and standby legs against 488 regular government flights means a large share of the wing's flying exists only because of where it is based. Every year the move slips adds to that tally, and it is the clearest operational argument on either side of the budget debate.

The next fixed point is the BImA completion window of 2036 to 2038, with the cost range of €1.7 billion to €2.5 billion tied to construction prices in the meantime. Whether the 26 parking positions and the 570,000 square meter footprint survive scrutiny is the part of the plan still being contested.