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What you need to know about Berlin’s ‘cursed’ new BER airport

After several years of delays, the new BER airport is finally opening on Saturday October 31st. Here's what you need to know.

What you need to know about Berlin's 'cursed' new BER airport
An EasyJet flight parked at Terminal 1 of the BER airport. Photo: DPA

The Berlin region's new international airport was supposed to be a symbol of German unity and engineering prowess as the country came together after nearly half a century divided.

But instead, the new hub called BER — which will finally open on Saturday after nine years of delays and technical failures — has become an embarrassing dent in Germany's reputation for efficiency.

Here are key facts about the mishap-prone project.

READ ALSO: Berlin Brandenburg airport to finally open after nine-year delay

Symbol of reunification

After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, city authorities wanted a new airport to be a symbol of a country reunited after decades of the Cold War.

Aside from the technical BER initials, the airport carries the name of the former West German Chancellor Willy Brandt, who opened relations with the eastern bloc in the early 1970s.

At reunification in 1990, the German capital had three middle-ranking airports — Tegel and Tempelhof in the west and Schönefeld in the former communist east.

Taxis at Berlin Tegel's airport. Photo: DPA

In 1996, local and national authorities began drawing up plans for a new airport fit to rival international hubs such as Frankfurt and Munich, with a planned opening date of 2011.

Tempelhof, known for its huge Nazi-era canopy, closed in 2008 — the runways and airfield have since been converted into a massive city park — while the other two airports remained in service.

Faults and scandals

In 2010, the first signs of turbulence appeared. Project managers said stricter European aviation safety regulations and the bankruptcy of a planning company meant they had to delay the opening by a year.

From then on, the opening was repeatedly postponed.

In 2012, construction was suddenly halted after a fire safety system was found to be defective.

An inauguration ceremony planned only a few weeks later with Chancellor Angela Merkel was hastily cancelled.

In 2016, things took a sinister turn when prosecutors investigated the alleged poisoning of a whistleblower who had called out corruption on the project.

Faulty lighting systems, escalators that were too short, not enough space for lucrative shopping outlets… the project was dogged by one issue after another.

READ ALSO: Ready for take-off? Inside Berlin's long delayed BER airport before it opens

Costs take off

The airport's price tag had rocketed from €1.7 billion to more than €6.5 billion by 2020, bringing an extra burden on a city already heavily in debt.

Once popular former mayor Klaus Wowereit — who coined the “poor but sexy” catchphrase that became Berlin's moniker in the early 2000s — was one of the project's most high-profile casualties.

As chairman of the airport's supervisory board, he was blamed for cost overruns and later resigned over what he considered his “biggest failure” after 13 years in power.

Airport executives and local media began speaking of a “cursed” project.


A sign at the new BER airport reads “Time to Fly”. Photo: DPA

Local opposition

In a referendum organised by locals in 2017, Berliners voted to keep open Tegel, known for its unconventional hexagonal design and ease of travel. Aircraft gates were just steps from the terminal entrances but its facilities eventually became cramped and outdated.

The vote highlighted the attachment Berliners have to the airport, built in 90 days with Europe's longest runway in 1948 as the Soviets blockaded road and rail into the western sector.

But authorities stuck to the plan and confirmed the closure of Tegel for late 2020. The area will be converted into an office park, with the terminal buildings forming part of a university for applied sciences.

Opening in a pandemic

The explosion of tourism and cheap flights of the last decade caused authorities to think Berlin Brandenburg had been designed too small.

The hub was to have a capacity of 27 million passengers a year, increasing to 33 million with the opening of a second terminal a few years later.

READ ALSO: What's next for Berlin's Tegel airport when it closes in November?

Yet in 2019, 35 million passed through Berlin's two airports.

Authorities decided that Schönefeld, the unloved communist-era airport next to the new site, will continue to operate as BER's Terminal 5.

At the end of 2019, project managers announced that the new airport would finally open in 2020.

With aviation traffic into Berlin down 70 percent this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, at least capacity will be one less thing for the operators to worry about.

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TRAVEL

Oslo Airport sees uptick in arrivals ahead of new Covid-19 quarantine rules

Oslo's Gardermoen airport, the largest in Norway, has seen passengers move their trips forward to avoid incoming tightening of Covid-19 entry quarantine rules.

Oslo Airport sees uptick in arrivals ahead of new Covid-19 quarantine rules
AFP PHOTO / Hakon Mosvold Larsen (Photo by Hakon Mosvold Larsen / SCANPIX NORWAY / AFP)

The municipal director who is responsible for the quarantine hotels in Ullensaker, where the airport is located, confirmed the trend to newspaper VG.

“We had a relatively tough weekend, because we believe that those who have become aware that they would be put into quarantine hotels have now arrived much earlier, at the beginning of the Easter holidays,” municipal director Gunhild Grimstad-Kirkeby told VG.

New quarantine hotel rules come into effect from Monday, meaning that anybody arriving in Norway on trips that aren’t considered necessary foreign travel will have to check into quarantine hotels. The rules will tighten further on April 1st.

The earliest opportunity to leave the quarantine hotel would be 7 days after arriving and only if you return a negative test. Previously, Norwegian citizens and residents were allowed to quarantine at home.

The latest government information on rules relating to coronavirus quarantine hotels can be found in English here.

READ ALSO:

Ullensaker has opened an additional quarantine hotel to help it cope with demand. Grimstad-Kirkeby estimated that there are 1,000-2,000 people currently in quarantine hotels around Oslo Airport Gardermoen.

“It was high pressure on Friday, a little less on Saturday and a little less on Sunday. If I am to assume based on the forecasts I have received there will be a decline in arrivals on Monday (when the new rules come into place),” she said.

Travelers at the hotels must pay a 500 kroner per-day subsidy for adults and 250 kroner per-day subsidy for children aged between 10-18.

On April 1st those arriving in Norway must also provide a negative PCR test that has been taken within 24 hours of their departure flight. Once in Norway, they must take a rapid coronavirus test at the airport or border and wait at the test station until the result is returned. If they are travelling for non-essential reasons, they will be required to quarantine regardless of test results.

Foreign nationals who are unable to meet the requirements will be denied entry and Norwegian citizens and residents will receive fines, Justice Minister, Monica Mæland, told VG. Mæland also said there has been a slight increase in travel activity this Easter.

“We meet this (increased travel) with stricter rules. Some disagree and some still travel, we must have a system in place to ensure that we do not get increased infection rates after Easter,” she said.

“The police will decide the size of the fine in each individual case, and there can be imprisonment for up to six months. We have seen examples of some quite hefty fines already. We will do everything we can to prevent import infection,” she said in regard to the potential punishments for those who break the new rules.

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