BER opening:

The airport company is sticking firmly to its target of commissioning Berlin Brandenburg Airport in the second half of 2017. Executive Management and the Supervisory Board are in agreement that there is no necessity to abandon this schedule as long as it is still possible for it to be met. This is the result of today’s Supervisory Board meeting by Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg GmbH (FBB). Dr Karsten Mühlenfeld, CEO Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg GmbH: “The fact that the 5th supplement has not yet been approved will not deter us from continuing to pursue our common goal of commissioning the airport in the second half of 2017. It goes without saying that we had anticipated obtaining approval sooner but the outstanding supplement does not currently prevent us from proceeding with construction as we are in close contact with the building authorities (BOA) with the result that we know what has to be built and how. Work which is not affected by the 5th supplement is being continued.” Michael Müller, Mayor of Berlin and Chairman of the FBB Supervisory Board: “Everyone knows that it will be difficult to meet a deadline of opening in the second half of 2017. But the decisive question is not the exact date on which we will be opening. If we manage to go online in 2017, the airport company is taking the right approach by investing a great effort in continuing to work on completion. Pressure must not ease off on construction activities during this phase. But we do expect the authorities to make a constructive contribution in accordance with the law.”

Current status of construction work at BER

Planning and construction at Berlin Brandenburg Airport are currently lagging behind the general schedule outlined in October 2015. A prerequisite for commissioning in the second half of 2017 is that the as yet outstanding additional demands by the building authorities concerning the 5th supplement to the building permit for the passenger terminal can be processed swiftly, whereby the focus is on three smoke extraction scenarios at the interface between the train station and the terminal. Following that, it will also be possible to complete the 6th supplement to the building permit. Only once all of the building permits are available will it be possible to complete construction of the terminal. Completion is planned for summer 2016. To this aim, capacities by companies on site have been increased to more than 700 employees.

Government airport

The construction field is currently being cleared for the interim terminal on Ramp 1 at Schönefeld. Ultimately, the government airport is to be located at Ramp 2. At today’s Supervisory Board meeting, the various implementation variants for this primary construction measure were discussed. The variants have already been agreed with the federal government and with the Institute for Federal Real Estate (BImA). Today, the Supervisory Board favoured the variant involving step-by-step clearance of the construction field and the generation of an alternative area for aircraft parking positions which are no longer required.