Actually, the capital airport BER is to be opened in just over a year. And with it the terminal 2. Actually. A delay can not be completely ruled out, the company announced on Friday after a supervisory board meeting.
However, this means that neither the planned start of the airport in October 2020 nor the subsequent closure of Tegel Airport are at risk, it said.
Unlike the previous parts of the BER, the airport company FBB Terminal 2 does not build itself. It is built turnkey by the company Zech Bau. In July, the topping-out ceremony was held at Terminal 2. Shortly thereafter, serious planning deficits were reported, which would have led to significant deficiencies in the new building. A BER spokesman had denied that.
"In a few days, the installation of the baggage handling system in Terminal T2 begins," said airport chief Engelbert Lütke Daldrup. "It shows that we are on schedule." Subject in the supervisory board was also the planned construction of a terminal 3. It could handle, according to data from Friday annually 15 million passengers.
"The ongoing planning process clearly shows that lessons have been learned from previous planning and that FBB is willing to not repeat planning mistakes," said Supervisory Board Chairman Rainer Bretschneider. So the project should be handled by a separate company.
The main terminal of the new airport, according to the operators' calculations, holds around 25 million passengers per year. Terminal 2 is designed for a further 6 million passengers. In addition, the old Schönefelder terminal will remain in operation until Terminal 3 is built. Almost 13 million passengers were counted there last year.
Commissioning of the BER has been delayed for years due to planning errors and technical problems. Meanwhile, the passenger numbers in Berlin have increased significantly, so the expansion is planned.
