Long-Delayed Berlin Airport on Track to Open In October 2020

Aug. 6--POTSDAM, Germany -- The scandal-plagued Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER) is to open in October 2020 in line with the latest revised schedule, BER head Engelbert Luetke Daldrup said on Tuesday.

Speaking to the airport committee in the parliament of Brandenburg, the state surrounding Berlin in which the airport lies, Luetke Daldrup said the date was now firm, after repeated postponements resulting in a delay of more than seven years.

He predicted BER would pass the technical tests currently under way. "We have already conducted preliminary tests on the systems," he said.

Rainer Bretschneider, head of the supervisory board of the company that will operate the airport, concurred. "I am able to report that we were all positively impressed that the airport company and the other companies had adhered to all the plans," he said.

He acknowledged that much remained to be done.

Luetke Daldrup said the airport was still a long way from being finished. "A safe building is not an airport," he said. The operating systems had yet to be installed, and there were minor deficiencies to correct in the emergency power supply and lighting.

Talks about restrictions on night flights are proceeding. A complete ban is in place between midnight and 5 am local time. Following a petition, Brandenburg is seeking a restriction that would allow only intercontinental flights between 5 am and 6 am.

Planning for the airport began in 1992, shortly after German reunification, but poor planning and defects in construction led to delays. Costs are reported to have risen from around 1 billion euros (1.1 billion dollars) estimated in 1995 to around 7 billion euros.

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