On October 31, Berlin's new major airport will be put into operation, nine years late and with a final bill three times higher than estimated.
Preparations for the inauguration are underway to the last detail, testing the calls to wash hands and keep your distance. The fact that Berlin's new airport is opening now, in the midst of the corona pandemic, is somehow completely in line with the airport's unfortunate genesis, for a long time it was called Germany's most embarrassing construction site.
The idea was for the German capital to have a state-of-the-art airport nine years ago. But just before the inauguration in 2012, serious shortcomings were discovered.
The inspection found the airport to have over 14,000 complaints, including for fire protection. But also mistakes such as escalators that were too short and lighting that no one, not even the chief engineer, knew how to turn off, made Berlin and Germany an international laughing stock, says current airport director Engelbert Lütke Daldrup.
“We German engineers were ashamed,” says the manager who inherited the project and now it is coming to fruition, even though many Berliners refuse to believe it until they see it.
And with a previous inauguration fiasco, a nine-year delay and a cost of around SEK 40 billion more than estimated, there will be no lavish premiere next Saturday. This project is nothing to brag about, says Engelbert Lütke Daldrup.
– There will be no party. We will just open, says the airport manager.
Source: sverigesradio.se
