THE GERMAN capital Berlin has suffered huge embarrassment after safety concerns forced the authorities to delay the opening of a new airport by nine months, threatening what one airline executive called “almost irreparable damage” to the city’s bid to become a transport hub.
Klaus Wowereit, the mayor of Berlin, who also heads the supervisory board of the Berlin-Brandenburg Airport, said yesterday the €2.5 billion transport hub would not open until March 2013 after regulators raised concerns about fire safety systems.
The airport’s operators had already warned last week the opening would be postponed from June 3rd after previously being moved from 2011.
“This is completely unacceptable and will result in an unbearable and almost irreparable damage to the image of Berlin as an airport hub,” said Hartmut Mehdorn, chief executive of airline Air Berlin.
Air Berlin indicated this week it would seek compensation.
The delay is a “dramatic and unpleasant situation” that has seriously damaged the region’s image, said Matthias Platzeck, governor of the state of Brandenburg.
The airport – to be known as Willy Brandt airport in honour of the former Berlin mayor and German chancellor – is the largest infrastructure project in the former East Germany. It is designed to replace the ageing Tegel and Schönefeld airports.
The cost of the delays has not been revealed, and there are fears of congestion at smaller Berlin airports that must continue to handle flights.
To speed the airport’s completion a partially automated fire-protection system was installed. However, safety authorities rejected it and the airport’s planners now say a fully automated system will not be finished until December. – (The Financial Times Limited)