Berlin Brandenburg opening delayed until 2014

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  • Anonymous
    Guest

    AnthonyDunn
    Participant

    BT and Airwise are reporting

    http://www.businesstraveller.com/news/berlin-airport-opening-delayed-indefinitely

    http://news.airwise.com/story/view/1357559107.html

    that the opening of the new Berlin Brandenburg airport is now to be delayed until 2014 – that is some two years after the original planned opening date.

    Bearing in mind the frequent (and adverse) criticisms of UK infrastructure delivery including the initial opening performance of LHR T5 but now considering the UK’s superb performance in delivering the best Olympic Games ever, is it not time to revisit this “idée fixe” and ask ourselves whether everything German is efficient, well made/designed and delivered on time and isn’t it altogether “chippy” to denigrate almost everything about the UK’s performance in this regard…?

    Amusing that the German courts have banned betting on when the new – or will it be “old new” by then? – BER will finally open…

    [Edited from first posting].


    AMcWhirter
    Participant

    Hello Anthony
    In fact this story was posted in the news section yesterday. But it will be interesting to see how Tegel manages to cope as Berlin’s main international gateway for a further year or so.


    FormerlyDoS
    Participant

    Anthony

    I’d take each event on its own merits and not generalise.

    However, if you look at economic performance over the last 40 years, I don’t see much argument that Germany has managed itself rather better than the UK.

    Tegel is one of the worst major airports I have ever used.


    AnthonyDunn
    Participant

    FDOS: Sadly, there is no argument about the overall picture and the wirtschaftwunder. But this particular episode does demonstrate that even the Germans are capable of delivering a complete lash up every now and again. If only we could export a few more of these whilst importing a much more German approach to managing our economy, education, the role and provision of finance, never mind overall transport infrastructure….


    AMcWhirter
    Participant

    The problem with Tegel is that it was designed and built in the Cold War era when travel patterns in and out of Berlin were very different to today.

    Now, of course, Tegel is overcrowded and its facilities need renovating as it was due to close last summer at the same time that BER was due to open.

    In light of the delay and the fact that BER will be full up from the startn one has to question whether it is wise for a capital city to have only one airport.


    endschi
    Participant

    AnthonyDunn, please note that Berlin is not Germany…. Berlin is poor, dirty, unorganized, in short: a dump. The fact that the Airport won’t open until 2014 (and bets go as far as 2020) derives from the fact that Berlin has got a mayor who is an absolute nincompoop. Living in Munich, we are taking bets that our new terminal in Munich will be finished before BER. And it will be finished on time and on budget.


    cosmoB2012
    Participant

    @endschi. Sure that´s why Berlin attracts all the big events in arts, culture & fashion and Munich is ( if at all) only a second tier city.

    Munich (and Bavaria) profited that it was far away from the former GDR and therefore attracted heaps of companies that were originally based in Berlin ( Siemens, Allianz and many more) after the war. Governed by a highly corrupt local Prime Minister by the name of Franz Josef Strauss who left a fortune of 300 million DM after his death Bavaria was the big winner after the war.

    The problem with the new BER airport is that is location is completely wrong, it was planned at a much smaller scale in the 1990´s and the architect caused a mess. The mayor was the head of the supervisory board of the airport but he can´t be blamed for the many faults in its design and technical structure.

    By the way I was arriving from Zurich in Heathrow yesterday, the flight was originally planned to last 1hr20 minutes but was extended by an additional hour over South England due to high capacity and bad planning. Once we arrived at the gate the young lady trying to navigate the jet bridge took more than 20 tries and 18 minutes to connect us with the airport. If that is British engineering I do prefer the German one.


    AnthonyDunn
    Participant

    @endschi – 10/01/2013 12:09 GMT

    Having last been to Berlin barely twelve months ago, the description of the city as “poor, dirty, disorganised, in short: a dump” is diametrically the opposite to what my wife and I experienced. The inept management of the new BER terminal buildings is one thing, it is another thing entirely to castigate an entire city on this basis! Having previously been to Berlin back in the late 1990s, the transformation between then and now is massive with a brand new transport infrastructure that would leave most other capital city mayors gasping in envy. If you’ve not made the trip to the shiny new Berlin Hauptbahnhof, then I would strongly recommend that you do so – it is a stunning example of modern public architecture. Somehow, I would rather imagine that Frau Merkel might also wish to take exception to your portrayal of Germany’s capital city.

    Where I do have a gripe is with Germany’s retail banking system: the difficulty in either paying with plastic or obtaining cash using an HSBC issued Visa card (little known global card issuer and a minor regional UK bank…) from a German ATM machine. I have wasted more time in Germany simply getting cash than anywhere else in the world. The Deutsche Bank teller at the branch nearest the Philharmonie in Berlin held up our HSBC Visa card as if it was a piece of dog excrement…

    Beyond that,

    @cosmoB2012 – 10/01/2013 12:52 GMT

    I rather imagine that the LHR air bridges are yet more German imports as the UK conceded yet another area of engineering manufacturing to an overseas competitor. How it takes 20 tries to get one to approach an aircraft properly would indicate that said operator ought perhaps to be required to go back to driving school.


    Henkel.Trocken
    Participant

    Does anyone know are there any updates on the opening of BER?

    At one level I’m quite happy using TXL, BER will never be as convenient for me but it is now looking its age and due to the extra work load it is fairly chaotic in the terminal and trying to get to the gates at times is challenging!


    Henkel.Trocken
    Participant

    For anyone interested there’s more info that I’ve found here:

    http://www.dw.de/new-berlin-airport-delay-costs-millions-each-month/a-16793372


    AMcWhirter
    Participant

    Hello Henkel

    The last news piece we posted suggested that nobody knew exactly when the airport would open.

    In the meantime a lot of money is being spent on maintaining the infrastructure, including the running of “ghost trains” to ensure the rail lines and signals are kept in working order.

    In addition, there’s a brand new Steigenberger hotel standing empty. It was ready for business last August.

    http://www.businesstraveller.com/news/berlin-airport-opening-delayed-indefinitely

    BBC Fastrack recently showed a film about the new airport. It shows the work going on behind the scanes:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01b7169


    AnthonyDunn
    Participant

    The last I heard – I think it was a BBC World Service item – was that they were still having issues working out how to switch off the lights and other electrical systems. And no, I really am NOT joking!


    Communipaw
    Participant

    @endschi – 10/01/2013 12:09 GMT

    Cannot agree with your perception of Berlin at all.

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