Berlin’s new airport has suffered a further delay and is now not expected to open until October next year.
Berlin-Brandenburg International Airport had been due to open earlier this summer but was put on hold until March 2013 in after fire safety problems emerged.
Brandenburg’s state premier Matthias Platzeck confirmed yesterday that the opening of the airport, estimated to be costing up to €5 billion, had been put back again until late October 2013.
The airport is due to handle 27 million passengers a year and have capacity for up to 45 million against the combined 24 million capacity of the city’s existing Schönefeld and Tegel airports.
Lufthansa and Air Berlin have both voiced concern over the contend delays to the new airport, being constructed on the site of the current Schönefeld airport, in the south-east of the city.
Its opening will see the closure of Tegel, which is closer to the city centre.