[Mark Caswell]

Interesting article on the BBC website this weekend:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-48527308

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GivingupBA

[canucklad]

Ha !! I thought this opened years ago !!
I’ve flown into Schonfeld a few times, Am I correct in assuming the new airport is located at this site ?
Anyway, good to see we’re not the only ones who can mess up high profile projects in such a spectacular manner : )

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tomwjsimpson

[RaveAroundTheWorld]

I actually booked a ticket to this airport shortly before they postponed the opening and moved the flight to Tegel….
-Rave

[AMcWhirter]

[quote quote=946231]Am I correct in assuming the new airport is located at this site ?[/quote]

Yes you are correct cancucklad.

Right now as we have reported Schonefeld and Tegel are taking all the pressure. I believe BER’s T1 will already be full to capacity when it opens (assuming Tegel closes as planned).

As we have noted before DB continues to run those ghost trains through BER’s station.

What will become of BER’s airport hotel ? It was originally to be managed by Steigenberger.

https://www.ece.com/en/centers-projects/office-traffic-industries-hotel-residential-1/?tx_eceprojects_detail%5Bproject%5D=399&tx_eceprojects_detail%5Bcontroller%5D=Detail&tx_eceprojects_detail%5Baction%5D=index&cHash=38d159e3fe304181e60f4561156efc8c

[Mark Caswell]

I visited in March 2012, at which point the airport was still scheduled to open in June of that year.

My trip was for the inauguration of Air Berlin into Oneworld. How times change.

Special report: Oneworld gears up for new Berlin hub

[GivingupBA]

[quote quote=946231] I’ve flown into Schonfeld a few times, Am I correct in assuming the new airport is located at this site ? [/quote]

Yes. Here’s a map of the new airport, and Schönefeld:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Map_Berlin_Brandenburg_Airport.png

Schönefeld is the block in the upper part of the map.

[Folium]

Berlin is, and has been for at least the last 100 years, the least “German” part of Germany. Thus stereotypes of Teutonic efficiency and clinical attitudes fail to gain much traction in one of Europe’s most fascinating, if frustrating of cities. Great place to visit, not so great a place to live. If Germany did a Vegas, and that’s a big ask, the closest approximation would be Berlin, albeit with some periodic and violent interruptions to the cabaret.

The ludicrous story of BER is symptomatic of Berlin. Pre 89 Berlin had 4 airports, one for each occupied zone…Soviet zone Schonefeld, French zone TXL, British zone Gatow, US zone Tempelhof. But even that neat division overlooks the fact that TXL was a byproduct of the Berlin Blockade and the lack of airfields in W Berlin which demanded a 90 day effort by a largely female workforce (due to the marked absence of German males in 1948) to provide another landing option.

Post-89/90 the decisions to redevelop Gatow for housing and eventually to convert Tempelhof to a big empty space great for cycling or in-line skating were predicated on the creation of a super uber-airport at BER. Political appointments, needless meddling and an architect who didn’t do detail and who hated retail space in airports, sealed the fate of BER and set the scene for a classic Berlin melodrama played out at other people’s expense.

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capetonianm

[AnthonyDunn]

Once upon a time I would have allowed myself some schadenfreude but I think that with what the UK is visiting upon itself at present, this amounts to a mere blip in comparison.

[Author]

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