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Berlin's New Airport Gets Cold Feet, Delays Opening and Causes Chaos

Where: Berlin, Germany
May 9, 2012 at 10:00 AM | by | Comments (0)

It’s one drama after another for the new Berlin-Brandenburg International Airport (aka Willy Brandt/BER). Originally scheduled to open last year, then pushed to June 3rd, the airport’s operating company issued a stunning statement Tuesday that fire-protection problems will now delay the opening until August.

The news has caused an uproar from government officials like Brandenburg’s minister-president, who’s said he’s “really angry”. Now Germany’s largest airlines Air Berlin and Lufthansa are scrambling to redirect flights back to Berlin-Tegel and Schönefeld airports until further notice. This presents huge problem as both are pre-Cold War airports that were scheduled to shut down on June 2nd.

We’ve recently returned from Germany, where we’d talked with Air Berlin authorities about their plans to gun for Lufthansa's customers, and on being the first airline to move into the $3.3 billion airport. Now they, and other carriers must quickly adjust to this major blow.

Air Berlin officials told us Willy Brandt’s proposed June opening raised the eyebrows of skeptical locals, who were sure the airport wouldn’t be completed on time. However, Air Berlin had faith and scheduled their last flights into Berlin-Tegel on June 2nd in anticipation of starting fresh in their new home the next day.

Sabine Teller, Senior Manager of Public Relations for Air Berlin, corresponded with us on what she called a “sensitive” issue, regarding the new airport delay, with the following info: Air Berlin will fly from Berlin-Tegel (TXL) up to the opening of BER, “the date we don’t know just now.” She also says that post June 3rd, issued tickets will remain valid, but a task force will be working on the logistics.

Once up and running, BER will be the country’s third largest airport and is expected to eventually handle 45 million passengers a year.

[Photos: Berlin Airport]

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