New Berlin airport finally tops out Terminal 2
July 31, 2019
The Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER) celebrated the topping out of Terminal 2, inching the long-unfinished airport closer to completion.
Construction workers raised a wreath to mark the topping out, which comes 10 months after the start of construction on the building. Airport CEO Engelbert Lütke Daldrup hailed the achievement as a "first important milestone" for the terminal.
The terminal, called T2, is expected to serve 6 million passengers per year. It will increase the total capacity of BER to 28-30 million passengers.
Long delayed
The opening of the new airport, about 18 kilometers (11 miles) south of the German capital, has been delayed for years. Construction began in 2006 and it was originally scheduled to open in 2011, but the project has been delayed six times.
In 2018, the airport's operating company said BER would open in October 2020, and that it would invest a further €770 million, pushing the total cost to over €7 billion ($7.8 billion).
"It took us years to put the BER construction disaster in order," Lütke Daldrup said.
In contrast to a "travel cathedral" with wood paneling and natural stone floors in the airport's T1 terminal, T2 is expected to be a simpler design, with concrete and free ceilings. According to the airport, €200 million will be invested in T2, as well as in roads, bus stops and a building for federal police.
dv/aw (AFP, dpa)
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