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Ex-Rolls Royce exec takes over BER airport

Berlin's beleaguered BER airport, currently delayed four years past its original opening date, has a new boss in former Rolls Royce manager Karsten Mühlenfeld, it was announced at the weekend.

Published: 23 February 2015 09:35 CET
Ex-Rolls Royce exec takes over BER airport
Karsten Mühlenfeld. Photo: DPA

"I believe he is exactly the man we need," Brandenburg's minister-president Dietmar Woidke told broadcaster RBB.

Mühlenfeld is taking the job after his predecessor, former Deutsche Bahn reformer and Air Berlin boss Harmut Mehdorn stepped down, cancelling his contract a year before its expiry and saying that he was under too much scrutiny to perform his job.

"I believe that Mr. Mehdorn did a good job in the last years and that the plans are better for it," RBB reported Mühlenfeld as saying.

The former Rolls Royce manager is hoping to set an opening date for the Berlin-Brandenburg International Airport (BER) as soon as possible, but was quick to leave himself some room for error.

"I will know in the coming months if it's at all possible," he said.

Previously, Mühlenfeld worked as Rolls Royce's top executive in Germany, where the aero engine maker produces turbines for military and civilian use.

He had at the beginning of the month accepted a job with train manufacturer Bombardier, but will be taking over as CEO of BER instead.

BER has been a source of embarrassment for Germany ever since it missed its first opening date in 2010.

A second deadline in 2011 was also missed before a move-in date was declared and plane tickets issued for the new airport in 2012.

Ten days before the big day, BER was declared not ready and the move-in date was pushed back again.

The CEO at the time, Rainer Schwarz, was fired, but he successfully sued for wrongful dismissal, winning damages worth €1 million, though the decision is still under appeal in Berlin courts.

It is now hoped that the airport will open in the first half of 2017, though more planning is required.

BER has been declared "too small" by business planners and may see another terminal added before it opens.

The budget has also ballooned from its original €2.83 billion price tag to €5.4 billion and counting.

Meanwhile, Tegel Airport has also cost the city an extra €20 million as the too-small city airport remains in operation until BER's opening. 

SEE ALSO: Berlin airport tech chief guilty of corruption

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AIR TRAVEL

‘A ridiculous lack of control’: Madrid slams Spanish govt for allowing Barajas travellers in with positive PCR tests

A top Madrid health official has accused Spain's national government of negligence for reportedly being aware that less than 10 percent of Covid tests are being carried out on inbound travellers at the Spanish capital's airport, as well as allowing in people who have tested positive for Covid-19.

Published: 28 May 2021 18:44 CEST
Madrid Barajas Airport
Image: GABRIEL BOUYS / AFP

Antonio Zapatero, Deputy Minister of Public Health and head of the COVID-19 Plan for the Madrid region, has said Spain’s central government is “aware” that travellers with positive PCR tests are arriving at Barajas Airport, accusing La Moncloa of “not doing their jobs properly” with regards to border control, according to a report in online daily 20 Minutos.

“From January until now (late May 2021) tests have only been carried out on 7.4 percent of travellers coming into Barajas. It is a ridiculous figure that showcases the lack of real control,” Zapatero said during a press conference.

Zapatero explained that during the weekend of May 14th to 16th, there were 21 cases of Covid-19 at Barajas Airport. He explained that those cases hailed from countries such as Colombia, the Dominican Republic, France, Turkey, and Morocco, and were later admitted to the Zendal Hospital in the capital. According to Zapatero, at least three of these people had positive PCR tests.

Spain’s Ministry of Health has indicated that these cases were detected when carrying out random documentation checks.

“I do not understand how it is possible to let people board with positive PCR tests,” said Madrid’s Deputy Minister of Public Health.

When asked if national health authorities had communicated any information regarding these cases of positive PCR tests to them, Zapatero replied that “they have not given us any explanation”.

According to the report by 20Minutos, the Madrid government has detected a total of 800 imported coronavirus cases in health centres and hospitals that have entered through Barajas Airport.

Zapatero has also indicated that two of these imported cases were of the Indian variant. One of these two cases is a Spanish citizen residing in India who was transferred to Spain on a special medical plane and the other is a foreign tourist.

“The Indian variant is more worrying, because of what we’re seeing in the United Kingdom currently,” continued Zapatero.

“In the week of May 21st to 27th, the number of cases has increased by 20 percent and the number of deaths has increased by 14 percent.

“This mutation may complicate the definitive control of the pandemic. In the United Kingdom, there is an increase in cases and hospitalisations in young, unvaccinated people too,” he concluded.

Countries around Europe are tightening travel restrictions with the UK because of the spread of the so-called Indian variant of Covid-19. 

Spain on the other hand has removed all restrictions for British tourists. From May 24th, UK holidaymakers can visit Spain without the need to quarantine or present a negative PCR test result. They will however need to fill in a health control form. 

Spain will also allow all vaccinated travellers – regardless of their country of origin – to visit the country from June 7th.

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