Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER)

[Aviador]

Reports suggest the opening of Berlin Brandenburg Airport is going to be further delayed until 2014.

Read more: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/01/0 ... 0S20130107

This is a huge setback. You wouldn't expect the Germans to make such a c@ck-up of such a large infrastructure development.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Re: Berlin-Brandenburg Airport

Very strange affair and most unGerman-like inefficiency.

The Mayor of Berlin will have to resort ever more to his 'charismatic smile and popular touch' if his flagship project is not to unseat him at the next election.

I used the existing Berlin Schonefeld Airport on which site the new airport is being built (though greatly expanded) about nine years ago. It was about as busy then as Durham Tees Valley on a quiet day though its area was enormous but largely undeveloped.

Schonefeld was the Eastern Bloc Airport serving Berlin in the days of the Cold War.

 

[Galaxy]

Re: Berlin-Brandenburg Airport

I work out there quite a lot, and one of the companies I work for is headed by an ex Lieutenant from the East German Army, who today is still very well connected and he told me as long ago as last July that it would be at least 2014 before Brandenburg would be ready, so in light of that this doesn't surprise me.

From a visitor's perspective it's been done very badly, apart from being advertised way too early here are some critical observations of the 'new' facilities:

1. The facilities in Schonefeld are appalling, dirty, expensive, too many steps and too few lifts, and much of this poor outdated infrastructure is still going to be used at Brandenburg.
2. The walking distance to the train station is much too far with luggage (about 800 metres) from the terminal.
3. The signage at the airport railway station is virtually non-existent and there are no TVs to say which platform to go to.
4. There are no lifts at the station, instead there are very long steep paths down for those with wheels.
5. All ICE trains that used to call at Schonefeld now go from Berlin Hbf so even if you are going South, you still have to go back North into Berlin to come back South again. The Dresden train is a case example, it used to stop at Schonefeld, but not anymore - it has even been re-routed so it doesn't go through it (this is Berlin Council's meddling).
6. Try and buy a train or S-bahn ticket to Berlin Schonefeld or Brandenburg from Berlin....you can't you have to buy a Zone ABC travel card - but NOWHERE is there signage at the Hbf explaining that, you are just expected to know. So many tourists queue to ask this very question, yet the simple answer of signage has never been provided.

The whole operation is a shambles. Give me Tegel any day. Rant over :s_mad

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Re: Berlin-Brandenburg Airport

Many thanks for those observations, Galaxy.

I remember that travelling from and back to Schonefeld was not straightforward.

We arrived around teatime and had to get to our hotel off Frankfurter Allee.

As you have described, there is a long walk to the station from the terminal - I have a memory of crossing a square though it was around 2003-2004. We caught an S-Bahn train (you could buy a one-off ticket then) but had to change trains at a suburban station to reach Alexanderplatz from where we boarded a U-Bahn train (line U5?) to the station near our hotel. The return to the airport was also slightly complicated.

Whilst in Berlin we bought day tickets that permitted carriage on the S-Bahn, U-Bahn and buses and took us as far as Spandau and Potsdam.

We enjoyed Berlin though my wife was not keen on going when I first suggested it. I've always been fascinated by pre-war Berlin. I wouldn't mind a return visit.

 

[Brum X]

March 18, 2018 ?

This is the date for the opening for Berlin Brandenburg Airport, this really is a complete mess and i cant believe its happened in a country like Germany.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

March 18, 2018 ?

This is the date for the opening for Berlin Brandenburg Airport, this really is a complete mess and i cant believe its happened in a country like Germany.

Staggering isn't it although in June this year we were on a DB train from Cologne to Hamburg on a hot and sticky afternoon when neither the air conditioning nor the lights were working in our carriage. The train manager was very embarrassed and had to lead us (we were in an escorted holiday tour group) right along the train to find room near the front. We said at the time that the famed German efficiency was slipping.

But the Brandenburg delay is something else. I can think of one or two countries where such a fiasco would not raise an eyebrow, but Germany?

 

[a300boy]

A German colleague of mine once told me German efficiency is something they invented and the rest of the world was daft enough to believe it.

 

[jfy1999]

Latest update on BER (in German) here

Opening paragraph translated: The capital's airport BER is to be extended already to its opening. The additional Terminal 2 is to be completed by summer 2020 and have a capacity of six million passengers per year. This would be ready in time for the planned opening.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Latest update on BER (in German) here

Opening paragraph translated: The capital's airport BER is to be extended already to its opening. The additional Terminal 2 is to be completed by summer 2020 and have a capacity of six million passengers per year. This would be ready in time for the planned opening.

Wasn't the planned opening supposed to be around 2010?

 

[jfy1999]

BER to finally open tomorrow (31st).

Berlin’s new airport set for Halloween opening | Euractiv

Berlin Brandenburg airport will open its doors for the first time on Saturday (31 October), a decade late and billions of euros over budget. The ill-fated hub is opening for business at an inauspicious time for aviation.

www.euractiv.com

 

[Aviador]

Better late than never.

 

[jfy1999]

The first easyJet flight.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

The first easyJet flight.

Thanks for that, jfy1999.

I flew in and out of Schoenefeld in 2004. It was a very basic airport, probably little changed from the Cold War era when it was East Germany's Berlin airport. Using the S-bahn station meant a walk through the streets to reach the airport.

The terminal for Brandenburg is on the opposite side of the Schoenefeld site with its own railway station and, as as can be seen from the video, a new motorway connection to the airport.

Germany's legendary efficiency has certainly taken a knock with the time it's taken for Brandenburg to finally open.

 

[Brum X]

Travelled through BER this week and its a really nice stress free airport, unlike UK airports. Everything is spaced out with high ceilings, nice and clean and just a nice environment. Also easy to get from Berlin city centre using the many different local/national railway companies.

Plenty of shops but not so many food options, however there are a few located in the food court on the upper level. Including Burger King and a lovely fish and chip shop

Also a couple of bars for you to enjoy.

Also as pointed out on the Birmingham forum and this nearly caught me out yesterday, when you are in the main departure lounge having food or drink, you then need to go through a passport control to enter the gate area which is weird so leave plenty of time for this as there is a queue, obviously.

It's not a really busy airport, like Frankfurt or Munich so all in all a nice airport

experience. I liked it

#Berlin

 

[Aviador]

Thanks for sharing your experience @Brum X