Airport News

Berlin Brandenburg Airport will not open this year after a delay has caused the project further setback.
The airport was originally scheduled to open in late 2011, however was delayed to 2012 before being moved forward again to March 2013 and further postponed to October last year.

The airport was re-scheduled to open this year however the mayor of Berlin, Klaus Wowereit, confirmed that it wasn’t yet possible to provide a specific date for the opening.

“The airport cannot be opened in 2014,” Klaus Wowereit, told a press conference on 7 January. “I'm going to be guarded about picking a date now.”

Wowereit has since stepped down as head of the board overseeing the building of the new international airport, however will retain his position as mayor of the city.

Design faults, construction difficulties and problems with the fire safety system have caused continual delays to the project.

These hindrances have also increased the cost of the project, which has risen to €4.4bn (£.3.6bn), with media sources reporting this could rise to €6bn (£5bn).

At present, officials have not provided a new opening date. German media is now speculating that the end of 2015 will be the most likely date for opening the airport.

Berlin Brandenburg Airport was developed as a means to relieve passenger traffic from the two airports currently serving Germany’s capital city – Tempelhof and Schönefeld – which jointly handled 25 million passengers in 2012.

With passenger traffic predicted to rise in the coming years, the new airport has been built to handle up to 27 million passengers a year and will be named Willy Brandt International Airport, after Germany's Cold War leader.