About the airport
The new airport is situated on the border between Berlin and Brandenburg (neighbouring state). With a capacity of 27 million passengers per year, the Berlin airport will be competing directly with Germany’s top class international airports in Frankfurt and Munich.
At the time of its opening, Germany’s Minister of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, Andreas Scheuer said, “BER has annoyed us, disappointed us, moved us. But now, it can delight us, too.”
The decade old controversies around it
The construction of a scandal-ridden BER airport began in 2006. Its opening was scheduled back in November 2011 (almost a decade ago) but the day never came and BER became a joke everywhere.
The airport was designed by the famous von Gerkan, with a very innovative vision. However, five years and several designs later, his final plan proved to be disastrous, and the airport’s roof was re-thought of, which further delayed the opening of the airport for several months. Later, the airport had to face various construction challenges, corruption and bribery allegations and no opening date was decided.
October 31, 2020, ended all the decade-long speculations.
The airport’s opening
The airport’s opening went quite smoothly and unexpectedly, considering the history of the BER. According to data, the first days of operation have been a huge success. BER recorded 23 arrivals and 23 departures and handled 3077 passengers, while its COVID test center administered 400 tests.
