The BER debacle continues

Guess what?

The 31 October 2020 opening date for BER has been cancelled due to coronavirus! (Apparently some of the construction/auditing staff caught it, so they've had to leave the building site.)


I haven't checked to see if this article saying that Oct 31 is going ahead can be corroborated, but what bad luck for BER to finally be open in these times...
 
I haven't checked to see if this article saying that Oct 31 is going ahead can be corroborated, but what bad luck for BER to finally be open in these times...

Pretty lame article, date hasn't been changed (yet) so all it's talking about is the fact that the new airport will have to struggle with low passenger numbers due to the Covid crisis (like pretty much any other airport around the world apart, ironically, in China from where the Virus has originated from).

Reads to me as if the Brits are having one last hard laugh of Schadenfreude at the Germans before the tables will be turned very quickly once Brexit finally hits properly :p
 
Quote from someone i know who has lived in Berlin all his life.....

The timing for the opening of the BER is perfect. Under corona conditions the airport is now in the right size. Under normal conditions it would be already too small
 
@JessicaTam and I gave the BER board game a try while she was in Canberra last weekend. It was quite fun, although ideally you would have 3-5 players if you were going to play strategically.

The basic premise is that you have to work together to build 8 sections of the airport - the 2 runways, 3 terminal buildings, the apron, the carpark and the fire department. The goal is to spend as much taxpayer money in doing so. The game ends once all buildings have been constructed and the winner is the person who spent the most money.

Along the way you pick up "ErgebnisLos" cards (literal translation is "resultless" or "unsuccessful") and "VerantwortungsLos" cards (which translates to "no responsibility") which instruct you to spend money, steal chips, etc. These cards tell all sorts of true stories about things that were stuffed up during the airport's construction.

For example - "You cannot find certain rooms of the airport. That's because they don't exist. Spend €20 million to employ a search party to look for them anyway."

And then there's "the boss has fired the technical lead, so the over-boss fired both the boss and their new technical lead. Employ a new boss and re-employ the old technical lead. Pay €100 million in legal costs and severance payments and collect a chip from another player."

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In the end we managed to build the airport in around an hour, and @JessicaTam was the winner as she outspent me by around €400 million in taxpayer money!

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Saw today that bankruptcy is possible, and soon.
 
The saga goes on! I had a hangover from Covid disruptions that was a rebooked flight with LH that was scheduled for next month. Happily one leg of the flight was cancelled, and I finally get my money back. As a bonus it seems I was saved from from the BER experience!
 
Hopefully get to fly in or out of BER in April.
Train from Frankfurt would probably be easier in both directions but then I would miss out on BER!
Nah- you can't miss out of that. As a former Berliner, I still haven't been and it's right on top of my list for Europe next (Northern) autumn. It'll be so much fun to see but I'll bring my own water, just in case 🤣
 
Nah- you can't miss out of that. As a former Berliner, I still haven't been and it's right on top of my list for Europe next (Northern) autumn. It'll be so much fun to see but I'll bring my own water, just in case 🤣
Yeah I am a huge fan of Berlin as a city too.
Flew into and out of Tegel once and even tempelhof which was a joy flight
 
Yeah I am a huge fan of Berlin as a city too.
Flew into and out of Tegel once and even tempelhof which was a joy flight
Oh Tempelhof, don't get me going, what an easy and awesomely located little airport with a huge history that was.

I actually always liked Tegel and wished they had kept it open. So easy in and out and much better to reach from the city than the new one. But well, it was a long time coming!
 
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BER Bailout Before Bankruptcy:
Thanks. I see the airport CEO said

“The decision is very important and trend-setting for us,” Berlin Airport Chief Executive Aletta von Massenbach told Reuters in an interview.

I bet he’d like It to be ‘trendsetting” 😳
 
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