Berlin’s new Willy Brandt Berlin Brandenburg International Airport has a record of delays, malfunctions and disasters longer than its name. The airport, which was supposed to have opened in 2011 is still far behind—and just fired its new public relations chief for saying so.
Daniel Abbou, with three months on the job, gave an interview to PR Magazine, a trade publication, in which he said the project will never be a success story. He told the magazine that “The old managers of the project messed up too much for that to be the case, too many billions of euros have been wasted.”
He also criticized current managers for continuing to report that the project is going well, and said “That’s bullshit. Take responsibility when something has been a shit show.” And he said the believable (by all of us) and unthinkable (to his bosses): The airport won’t likely open in 2017, either.
And that was the end of the job. For more information on the incredible story of the Big Airport that Couldn’t, see these Gumbo reports from 12/3/15, 9/22/15, 8/9/15, and 12/15/14.
They might be better off tearing this one down and building a new one.
Fortunately Germany has Frankfurt, which works very well.
And Munich. But it’s a long walk from either one to Berlin!
Ironically, Frankfurt’s huge new expansion, which began planning after construction already started in Berlin, will probably be finished first…