It what is fast descending into what can be described as a farce, there are rumblings that the new Berlin Brandenburg Airport has now has its opening delayed to OCTOBER 2013 instead of the 17th Mach 2013 that was stated after the previous botched opening attempt.
The first date of 30th October 2011 for opening was pushed back in 2010. The second date of 3rd June 2012 (which a lot of airlines were trumpeting) was pushed back due to safety issues with the fire systems at the new airport – forcing all the airlines (but more importantly – Lufthansa and Air Berlin who had major expansion plans) back to Berlin Tegal.
Officials looked to opening the airport in 17th March 2013, but this seems to be now out of the window according to the Berliner Morgenpost (English Translation) and DW, with an official announcement due Friday.
Out of all the airlines, this is going to hit Air Berlin the worst who are having trouble fitting in at Tegal and need the expansion space that BER will offer.
For now, Tegel and Schoenefeld will have to continue to take the strain – but the situation is slowly getting out of hand and is descending into farce levels that leaves a lot of egg on Berlin government face…
The unions, overzealous management and an inane bureaucracy gone mad have caused nothing but trouble for this development…