The big botch 'made in Germany' opens its doors

The seventh time is the charm.

The one at the new Berlin airport runs the risk of becoming the most lackluster opening in history.

Not only because this Saturday the sky was overcast and it did not stop raining, but because the new Willy Brandt airport in the German capital arrives nine years late, because it accumulates an extra cost of about 4,000 million euros and because it opens right now, when the pandemic makes flying almost a rarity.

A few hours before the country is paralyzed for a month, to try to short-circuit the coronavirus, the first two planes touched down on Saturday at the Willy Brandt, alias BER for its international code.

That it opens in 2020, in the middle of the pandemic, is just the icing on the surrealism that surrounds this project since its inception, which also drags a mountain of debts as soon as it sees the light.

The history of this badly wounded work has become the symbol of the Germany that does not work, that advances at a pachydermic rhythm and that contrasts with the image of efficiency that the country treasures.

"Chronicle of a failure", "Once upon a time a monster", "A tragedy in mahogany tones", "The cursed airport", "Bankrupt before starting".

The headlines of these days in the German press gave an idea of ​​the magnitude of the fiasco.

The opening of the BER "fills me with joy," said German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier with laughter this Friday, asked by journalists.

Humor and fierce self-criticism were not lacking this Saturday at the airport, where an exhibition reviews the disaster of planning and engineering of Berlin's infrastructure.

“Yes, our failures are far from desirable.

But we can learn from this scandal and do better next time ”, you can read in one of the explanatory panels.

"The delay has created a kind of capsule in time," read another in an attempt to add poetry to the matter.

Upstairs, large walnut-paneled check-in desks add a welcoming touch to the grand lobby, which aspires to emulate Mies van der Rohe's New Berlin National Gallery

In the corridors, dozens of workers were still polishing the crystals, cloth in hand, before the opening mini ceremony started.

A spectacular police display protected the building and prevented the passage of a group of climate activists who had gathered in the rain.

"Burn the borders, not the kerosene," could be read on one of the banners displayed.

The Willy Brandt was conceived as a symbol of the reunified country.

The airfields of Tegel, in the west, and Schönefeld, in the east, would go down in history and would be replaced by the great infrastructure that is now being released.

The inauguration was initially scheduled for 2011. Since then, openings have not stopped being canceled (up to six, some even with invitations already sent), delays over deadlines already delayed and dedicating millions to repair and replace what was broken before to get to premiere.

It has taken up to 14 years to build, in which it has gobbled up a budget of 6,000 million euros, an amount three times higher than initially planned.

At times it was even thought of tearing it down and starting from scratch.

The reasons for the delays are almost endless.

A system of useless smoke detectors, faulty pipes, screens that expired before they were released, cables that nobody knew what they were for;

book design errors, along with changes in a staff that has been going out the door to the beat of scandals, eternal administrative permits, lawsuits with neighbors ... Thus, up to nine years of terrible management and planning, which cost him even the post of a Berlin mayor, Klaus Worwereit, in 2014. A botch

, which also makes what aspired to be the most modern airport in Europe was born out of fashion, almost retro.

Harald Moritz, a regional deputy for Los Verdes and a member of the parliamentary commission that investigates errors in the planning and management of the airport, considers by phone that the public authorities never had the project under control.

"They were jumping from one disaster to the next. Many errors only came to light when they tried to get the airport running."

Over the years, Germans have had to get used to living with this history of failure, in a country that reveres efficiency and punctuality.

But what they did not count on is that a stubborn virus was going to end up giving the BER the tip.

The closure of borders, quarantines for travelers and the rebound in cases in vacation destinations have emptied airports and caused the biggest air traffic crisis in its history, which heralds a difficult start for Willy Brandt.

Estimates indicate that in this first phase, the airport will have only 20% of the initially planned travelers.

Over the years, the airport has grown small, in the heat of the

in low-cost flights.

Adapting to the new reality required more time and money.

Terminal 1, which is now opening, is designed for 22 million passengers a year, but last year, however, up to 35 million travelers used the existing airports in the magnetic city, which is still fashionable.

Ironies of history, thanks to the virus, it is now born oversized.

Financial horizon

The pandemic exacerbates the already dangerous financial situation of the infrastructure.

“We are faced with a dilemma.

On the one hand we are happy to start slowly, with few flights, the problem is that at the moment it is not seen on the horizon when the recovery will arrive ”, explains to this newspaper Patrick Müller, director of operations of the new airport.

"With the decisions of the European governments in this second wave, we find it difficult to open new routes," he adds.

The question is if the vaccine arrives, how long will it take to be able to travel again, explains this expert who landed in the public company in 2018. Müller attributes part of the delays to the fact that the political authorities believed they were able to manage with different contractors a work of enormous technical complexity.

“The important thing now is that we are done.

We are ready ”, he consoles himself.

Moritz assures that “our fear is that the debt will not be paid.

If you spend a budget to build two airports, it is unlikely that only one will be able to pay you back.

The technical question is already solved, now the financial one is missing ”.

The Minister of Transport, Andreas Scheuer, considers that more state aid is needed for the airport to function.

“I am in contact with the airlines, but there is still no light at the end of the tunnel, because now they are cutting flights.

But Berlin is our capital and it has to be an epicenter, ”Scheuer said recently.

The initial idea of ​​starting to earn money from 2026 is now light years away.

The BER was born with assisted respiration by the federal government and the regional governments of Berlin and Brandenburg, which this year alone contribute 300 million euros.

The newborn airport has a small rival, but enormous charisma.

Tegel is the tiny airport that will close shortly and that, embedded almost in the city center, is an unbeatable convenience for travelers.

From the airstrip to the bus stop with a collected suitcase, it usually takes a few minutes.

Berliners have stuck to it until the last moment, including through a citizens' initiative, but the small airfield will close its doors forever this 2020, after 85 years in operation.

The one in Schönefeld will become one of the terminals of the new airport.

In Germany, the announcement of the inauguration of the Willy Brandt has been lived with a certain feeling of unreality.

It was hard to believe that this time it was going to be true, that the wolf that Pedro had been announcing for years was finally coming.

But it arrived and the Berliners have been able to turn the page this Saturday to a story that until today seemed endless.