In the midst of the crown crisis – Bye-bye Berlin-Tegel – hello «BER» – News

Don’t celebrate, just get started: Berlin Brandenburg’s new airport will open 9 years late on Saturday.

The planning and construction of the new Berlin-Brandenburg airport was a financial debacle and caused much ridicule. With a delay of nine years, things now start in the middle of the Corona crisis. Peter Voegeli, SRF’s Germany correspondent, looks back.

Peter voegeli

Germany Correspondent, SRF

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Peter Voegeli has been a correspondent for SRF in Germany since the summer of 2015. He has worked for Radio SRF since 2005, initially as a correspondent in the USA and later as a presenter for “Echo der Zeit”.

SRF News: Will the opening of Berlin Brandenburg Airport be celebrated?

Peter Voegeli: No, it’s not even celebrated. Airport manager Engelbert Lütke Daldrup said some time ago: We don’t celebrate, we just start. All the setbacks were too embarrassing. Now there is also Corona. Two planes from Easyjet and Lufthansa will land and take off on Saturday. The first BER flight will take off to London Gatwick.

The construction cost almost six billion euros, in the end much more than planned. Can you at least see that?

No, you don’t see that. The buildings have been finished a long time ago. There was a lack of internal workings, especially fire protection. The problems started small. An example: you had to use metal studs, but there were also some plastic studs underneath. The problems continued on a large scale. Above all, the constant requests for change almost killed the project. There were almost 500 applications until shortly before the originally planned opening in 2012. A project that takes 30 years from first planning to inauguration is constantly being overtaken by new laws. For example, the increase in security regulations after the September 11 attacks. BER has run into big problems.

The old Schönefeld airport, right next to the new airport, will be integrated into BER as a terminal. The largest TXL at Tegel airport disappears. What is planned there?

Tegel will become a place of business and science, a technology hub called the Urban Tech Republic. The Beuth University of Applied Sciences is approaching and between 800 and 1000 companies will be installed. 5000 apartments are projected in the area. A lake will be created where taxis once parked in front of the famous hexagonal Terminal A.

Tegel became too small, but at the same time it is very central. Is there also mourning for Tegel?

Naturally. TXL was Berlin. In 1948, when the Soviet Union wanted to starve West Berlin, Berliners built this airport for the airlift themselves in nine months. TXL has always been the gateway to the world for West Berliners. It’s a cult, full of “seventies.” Colors, shapes, even every chair and every railing, everything is like the 1970s in a time capsule. It was designed for two and a half million passengers a year, in the end it was 22 million. In the end it was completely worn out, but it was indestructible, like Herbie the Scarab. TXL is a bit like Berlin. You are not as classy here as in Zurich. Here you wear a very carefully selected dirty look. That is in Berlin and also a bit of Tegel.

Are there also voices in Berlin who, after all the anger and crisis in the crown, wonder if the airport is still needed?

You don’t ask yourself that question now. You don’t have time for that. I think Berliners have a tired smile left for this opening. Smile because now that the airport is finally open, no one can fly. And tired because the next partial lockdown is imminent. And if the airport is needed, Berliners certainly expect it, because they would like to have an airport.

Interview by Roger Brändlin.