Berlin’s white elephant?

Repeatedly delayed due to red tape and technical problems, Berlin Brandenburg Airport is on course to open in 2017, according to a spokesman, denying a media report it could end up as a white elephant.

The planned opening will be six years after the original target date following a series of embarrassing costly setbacks.

Ralf Kunkel, a spokesman for Berlin Airports Authority, denied a report in Germany's Bild am Sonntag newspaper that the €5.1bn Willy Brandt International Airport might never be finished because its building permit expires in November 2016.

The report, quoting internal documents from the project, said that a law would have to be changed to extend the permit, but Kunkel said that would not be necessary.

Brandenburg is a development of the existing Schönefeld Airport, formerly the Berlin gateway for East Germany and now used mainly by low-cost carriers including easyJet and Wizz.  Tegel is Berlin’s current international airport.  Tempelhof, near the city centre, was somewhat prematurely closed in 2008.

"There's been no change in the schedule – we want to be finished with construction by March 2016," Kunkel said.  "After that the airport will be tested.  The opening is planned for the second half of 2017."  www.berlin-airport.de

Index/Home page
 

OUR READERS' FINEST WORDS (All times and dates are GMT)

All comments are filtered to exclude any excesses but the Editor does not have to agree with what is being said. 100 words maximum