BER sees millions of passengers following a nine-year opening delay (Image: Getty)
Despite years of planning setbacks and construction mishaps, a German is finally starting to shake off its reputation for being a national embarrassment, welcoming millions of passengers.
A total of £5.6 billion pounds was spent to get (BER) up and running as it finally opened its doors in October 2020. However, this came almost a decade late after a myriad of delays, financial issues and unusual problems.
Initially dubbed to be a cutting edge state-of-the-art transportation hub, the megaproject became more famous for its continual setbacks turning the country into a “laughing stock”.
However, four years later and the airport is reporting a significant increase in passenger traffic, clawing back its reputation. October 2024 saw the BER serve a total of 2.56 million people according to Travel and Tour. This is an 8.6% rise compared to the year prior where 2.36 million came through the doors.
:
Despite opening setbacks, October saw 2.56 million passengers (Image: Getty)
Despite its current successes, the build-up to its opening saw people doubt if it would ever see a single flight take off.
Bizarre construction mishaps and weak governance caused the airport to miss at least six deadlines to open – 2020 saw a mixture of relief and disbelief from the public when it finally became operational.
The BER constantly changed its scope which led to cost escalations. Problems included escalators being too short and a smoke extraction system that pulled smoke downwards into the opposite intended direction.
The financial mismanagement of the project saw its total figure rise by billions more than initially intended. In 2017, the airport stated its need for an additional billion euros for up until 2020 due to the extra work costing at least €900 million.
:
Over 18,000 flights took-off and landed in October 2024 at BER (Image: Getty)
However, by January 13 in 2018, the company requested an additional €2.8 billion for extensions until 2030 instead.
Engelbert Lütke Daldrup, who served as the chairman of Berlin-Brandenburg Airport since 2017, expressed his embarrassment over the situation.
“Not only Berlin, but by extension the whole of Germany became a laughing stock over this. German engineers like me have felt embarrassed,” he said.
With the construction process well and truly in the past, the airport saw over 18,000 flights take-off and land in October, an increase of 6.3% from the previous year.