Soon Direct Flights From Berlin to US?

In the near future, passengers flying from Berlin to destinations in the United States could do so without having to transfer on the European continent before heading over the Atlantic. Three years after Lufthansa's direct flight from Berlin to Washington was cancelled, negotiators at Berlin's Schönefeld Airport in the eastern part of the city are hoping to revive the non-stop connection with US airlines. According to the daily Berliner Morgenpost, US airlines are interested in setting up direct flights once the planned Berlin Brandenburg International Airport (BBI) goes into operation. BBI is intended as an expanded version of the smaller Schönefeld facility, which is currently not able to handle all the traffic of major inter-continental airlines. Which US air carriers are involved in the negotiations has not been revealed according to the newspaper, which quoted Schönefeld's marketing director Burkhard Kieker. A decision is expected in November as to whether or not non-stop flights will be available starting in 2005.