In what must be turning from a bad joke to what can be loosely described as a farce, it seems that Berlin Brandenburg International Airport is delayed. Again.
This is now the 4th time this airport has been delayed, with the plan to originally open it in Spring 2012 long since in the dust of history. The last date was mentioned to be “October 2013”, although the airport’s CEO – Hartmut Mehdorn – is saying that a date will be announced in the next 2 – 3 months.
This would put back the October date into the long grass.
The current plan calls for part of the north pier of the new terminal to be activated and a massive 10 flights a day to operate from that terminal. Alas, it seems that the airport management has realised that this pier would need its own check-in and security check points.
This would take time to launch, pushing back the launch to Spring 2014, with the airport full open in 2015 subject to all the work being completed and on schedule.
And if past history is to go by, that isn’t going to happen.
Germania Fluggesellschaft has been announced as the first carrier to use the new terminal.
Berlin Brandenburg International has been through growing pains, from the fire prevention system, to planning regulations, through to ripping up parts of the new airport for inspection purposes.
The cost of the project has risen from €2.4 billion to €4.3 billion so far.
The trouble is – there’s still a lot of work to be done, and its hurting airlines such as Air Berlin who are busting the seems at Tegal.
And even then, I’m thinking 2015… is looking way too optimistic for opening this airport.
I am not sure if there is a connection But…
I watched a major hotel being built near a n airport in germany from the ground up. It seemed at times that the structure was being taken apart! I later read that the steel work was contracted to the lowest bidder which involved some low quality Asian steel. There were major safety concerns and the head contractor and engineering firm walked away from the job. Loads of work had to be redone in order to get people to sign off safety concerns.
Just saying.
I am proud that I live in NYC where the NYC Buildings Department does a great job of insisting on solid standards. They get a lot of bad rap but they usually do the right thing.
LOL @ charles
Germany is a country who’s economy is run by a bureaucracy. While I don’t doubt your example is true. It’s at best a single anecdote. It would be a logical fallacy to extrapolate a singular example as a defining difference between societies. Simply put, Germany is a protectionist state (along with much of the EU). It’s equally as likely that the building was being taken down so they could use more expensive Ruhr Valley Steel.
I have no idea what has bedeviled this airport, but Germans have built plenty of mega-projects.
This one seems screwed up beyond redemption
Originally it was to do with the Fire Alarm system I recall.
I don’t know, where you got the October 2013 date from – that was dropped a long time ago. Local media has been quoting Mehdorn as saying that there wouldn’t be an exact date announced before October 2013, that’s all. From what is being discussed on the local TV station RBB, it seems VERY unlikely that the airport will be fully operational before summer 2016! The Germania trial is meant to make the transition smoother by not having all airlines move over to BER at the same time.
Lots of Jon
Put simply, Germany was trying to break the stranglehold of Unions and went too far. When they realized that this Hotel project was in danger of catastrophic collapse they finally acted, regardless of cost. I suspect a similar dynamic is happening here. Many projects were started about the same time with the same mentality.
Just maybe.
I imagine steel is steel but when cast into I beams there could be voids in the casting which leave the I beams weaker than planned.
Beyond all the construction problems, it has also been stated that the airport will be too small almost from the get go for the expected number of passengers – and it seems that the design doesn’t really facilitate expansion.
It’s all kind of strange. Meanwhile at Frankfurt airport, a major expansion was completed on schedule with the new A pier – and the LH & UA area at Frankfurt is now quite nice – and pretty easy to switch between Schengen and non-Schenghen since it’s just two levels.
I wonder what the connection is between the fact that LH has two big hubs at FRA & MUC and really doesn’t want AB to build a competing international hub and the problems at BER?