Berlin Brandenburg Airport delays opening due to technical issues on fire protection installations

Germany's Berlin Brandenburg Airport stated (08-May-2012) it will now open later than planned, with operations scheduled to commence after summer holiday period instead of the previously announced 03-Jun-2012 opening. The airport stated, "Following several crisis meetings over the weekend, the project leadership team has reached the conclusion that the completion and subsequent acceptance tests of certain safety relevant installations was no longer possible by the planned opening date. The airport operating company therefore decided to change course 27 days before the planned opening to prevent any potential shortcomings in the area of safety". In particular, sufficient fire prevention safeguards are not yet in place. In view of these developments, the airport operating company has decided to take the following steps:

• Preliminarily putting a stop to the move of air traffic from Schönefeld and Tegel to Berlin Brandenburg, which currently has 7000 construction workers on the site, which is Europe's largest airport construction site;
• Deferral of the opening of the new airport until after the summer holiday period. [more - original PR]

The airport, whose opening has already been pushed back from 2011, is being constructed at a cost of EUR2.5 billion.