Berlin’s long-awaited Berlin-Brandenburg Airport, seven years overdue and with no credible opening date, is getting set for an expansion that would double its size. If it ever happens.
The plan, submitted to the airport board by airport chief Lütke Daldrup, would add two new terminals and more baggage carousels and other facilities to ramp the capacity up to 58 million passengers, in stages over the next 20 years.
The airport’s construction woes, including design flaws, material flaws, fire, fraud and a host of other plagues, have left Berlin with no modern airport and a constantly rising tide of traffic. The project is so far over its construction estimates that no one can take seriously the estimate that the extension will cost only €2.3 billion.
The airport under construction was designed to handle 22 million passengers a year, and crowded, outdated Tegel in the north of the city is already handling that many. Another 10 million, mostly on discount carriers, are using Schönefeld, which shares some runway space with the new airport.
