October 2020 The Times 23

BERRRRRR After more than 20 years of planning and construction, it looks like Berlin’s new BER airport will finally go online in October

DPA-ZENTRALBILD/BRITTA PEDERSEN The grass is always greener at another airport construction site: the new BER, almost done

public officials in were The directors of the airport com- BY HANNES KOCH co-financed by the Federal Republic pany were fired, as well as the archi- so that the market economy on that tecture firm responsible for planning: n Berlin, no one is surprised “island” surrounded by socialist East Gerkan, Marg and Partners. People when they have to get up at five Germany could survive. Politicians more or less stopped visiting the con- A dinosaur is born Iin the morning and head to the and administrators in West Berlin struction site. Wowereit’s political department of motor vehicles in knew that they could get away with career ended in 2014 – the airport order to register a car before noon. a lot without being abandoned by story had ruined his reputation. BY LORENZ MAROLDT Or when they notice that a construc- . The major political For several years thereafter, not tion site blocking part of a major parties from that time, the CDU and much happened. A few more adver- road has been devoid of even a single SPD, have yet to fully rid themselves tised opening dates were quashed. still have my paper invitation to the BER day expires and a new day begins. […] For worker for months. Or when it takes of this devil-may-care mentality. A series of alternating managers and opening gala scheduled for spring 2012. 2,000 years we Christians have awaited days to get a particular city adminis- The litany of scandals plaguing the engineers attempted to provide an I“Don’t forget!” it reads, front and center, the return of Jesus Christ. […] This passing trative employee on the telephone. airport named after former Chancel- overall picture of the failing project in striking red letters with an exclamation of time has instilled in us more patience.” Sloppiness is as much a part of the lor began with the 1996 and to find an approach to resurrect- mark. And also, just in case the message For years, BER’s online customer ratings city’s character as its caustic wit. decision of where to build it. Two suit- ing it. Cable ducts were severed once wasn’t clear enough: “Berlin have hovered around 3.9 stars out of 5. After 14 years of construction, Ber- able locations in sparsely populated more and new conduit track was laid. Airport is opening soon.” Don’t forget! Soon! User comments are testament to popular lin’s new airport is now set to open at Brandenburg, around 60 kilometers The monstrously vast smoke extrac- And, of course, BER was going to be “the approval: “Very little fly-over noise,” “No long the end of October 2020. Its comple- south of Berlin, were discarded in tion system was divided in to several most modern airport in Europe,” indeed, “a lines,” “Climate-neutral.” The only negative tion has already taken three times as favor of the former GDR airport of separate segments. cathedral of air traffic” – in atheist Berlin, no comments are those bemoaning the fact long as originally planned. The total Schönefeld, directly at the city limits. At the beginning of 2017, the air- less. The cancellation letter arrived ten days that most businesses are closed. But one cost of the airport is approaching Hundreds of thousands of residents port proprietors appointed Engelbert before the planned wingding, and was signed: dental clinic was undeterred in opening up a figure 10 times that of the initial will stand to suffer under the persis- Lütke Daldrup as the new CEO of the “With friendly ….” I guess they’d already run shop: “Wir haben BEReits eröffnet!” – in budget and could reach €10 billion. tent roar of jet engines. While there airport company. “He tightened the out of time for any actual “greetings.” English: “We’re already open!” – was their In Berlin’s parliament, the second will be a flying ban from 11pm to 6am, reins organizationally,” says Moritz. More as a gag, I began to count and then ad slogan in the airport magazine, and their committee of inquiry has already the noise problem will only worsen An external firm specializing in proj- tweet out the days that had passed since the particular specialty: “An experienced team been working for years to clarify as the city grows around the airport. ect management stepped in. The non-opening. Never would I have thought offers even anxious patients a very pleasant the “causes and consequences of the In the second phase, the federal gov- permit authorities have now certi- that the number would surpass 3,000. This atmosphere.” delays and cost overruns.” ernment and the state governments fied the airport’s viability. And there’s probably makes me the only Berliner who’s The past eight years have led me to YouTube offers viewers a chance of Berlin and Brandenburg decided a new opening date: Saturday, Oct. worked so continually and reliably on the expect the eventual opening of BER to play to watch the press conference held that the airport company, which 31, 2020. Presumably everything will completion of BER over the years. out as follows: The airport chief stumbles on May 8, 2012. This was the day is owned in parts by these three proceed on schedule. How does one go about not completing over a wayward cable, causing the cork of authorities canceled the opening of administrations, would plan the new If Lütke Daldrup does eventually an airport on time? the bottle of Dom Perignon he was carry- the airport, which was due to take construction itself. The politicians succeed, he will also be salvaging Well, it starts with hiring a chief engi- ing to fire off and strike a sloppily fastened place only three weeks later. Ever had concerns of being bamboozled Germany’s reputation as a nation of neer who isn’t in fact an engineer. The man column in the terminal. The roof then starts since, Berliners have had to field by construction corporations like engineers. But many observers have behind the never-operational fire protection to sway and a ceiling tile falls loose from its countless questions from foreign Hochtief and hoped to be able to their doubts. What if the Germans system was a mere architectural draftsman. broken screw anchors and plops down on visitors as to whether the half- accomplish the project in-house with can’t manage to get a normal-sized The management team had mixed him up the celebratory cream cake shaped like a finished terminal should rather be a lower price tag than with a private international airport up and running? with someone else and he didn’t want to mountain of suitcases. As the testing engi- demolished than completed , as it general contractor. Although the air- What should we then expect of the make a fuss. neer from the district of Dahme-Spreewald was already old enough to be torn port company had ably operated Ber- quality of the machinery and automo- But mishaps like these are understand- wipes the splattered cake from his eyes, down and replaced. lin’s three old airports – , biles that they sell all over the world? able. After all, the management team a beaver panics and scrambles through Back on that 8th of May, Berlin’s Tegel and Schönefeld – the planning If Berlin’s airport story ultimately simply didn’t have the time to worry about security, setting off a screeching alarm. mayor at the time, the Social Demo- and steering of a new multibillion- has a happy ending, let it be proof such trifles as building an airport. One Then the Schoenefeld Rifle Club marches in crat Klaus Wowereit managed, above euro airport complex was beyond that state intervention in the econ- former boss placed high priority on con- and the sprinkler system starts to spray eau the laughter of the journalists on its capabilities. “This was a case of omy is not necessarily a bad thing. tinuing his guest professorship at a techni- de Cologne over the guests while the song hand, to call the airport building a utter hubris,” says Harald Moritz, a Of course, it depends upon who is cal university during the hottest phase of “Help!” by the Beatles screams out over the “success story” – despite the fact that Green Party politician who sits on the intervening and how. In any case, the project; the topic of the seminar was loudspeakers. The airport TV screens start the CEO and the technical manager inquiry committee. “Commissioning public enterprise should heed the “airport management.” Also in the middle showing a video loop of Mayor Klaus Wow- of the airport had just acknowledged an external planning entity would basic tenets of business management. of this phase, the chief of technology ereit at the 2012 press conference claiming that they could not get a grip on the have been the right move.” Good governance is the buzzterm pressed on with writing his doctoral thesis, “BER is and remains a success story.” A main terminal’s smoke extraction The misery was set in motion. The here, and that includes competence, under the title: “Optimization approaches wild horse then gallops out of the airport system. Ventilation in the massive airport company lacked competent rational project management, con- for the process-oriented implementation stables and down the runway in an attempt building, later called “the monster,” employees. Policy was consistently trols and responsibility. of complex building measures using new to take flight, while the airport chaplain was simply not functioning as it being diluted with new wishes. Plan- The fact that such a thing is funda- information and communications systems.” mutters a cry of “hosanna” and recites a should. “The second half of August at ning would head in one direction, mentally possible, even in Berlin, was After finishing, he was never heard from passage – penned by ex-airport-chief Hart- the latest,” was the new launch time only to turn quickly in the other. on display at the end of March. Within again. mut Mehdorn – from the Old Testament’s announced by , the Moritz describes the fallout: “In a few days, Berlin’s state-owned Inves- At any rate, the non-opening of BER was BER-Genesis: “We’re getting readier and minister president of Brandenburg, some cases there were tender pro- titionsbank distributed hundreds of welcomed energetically by some as a new readier.” Finally, a rattling belch erupts from the federal state that completely sur- cesses for construction contracts millions of euros of aid money to tens chapter in the very unique folklore of Berlin: out of the fire protection system and pink rounds the German capital. before planning had even concluded.” of thousands of firms that were tem- “What are you waiting for? A job at BER? fumes rise from the ground, engulfing the His schedule was slightly off. And then there were insufficient con- porarily forced to close up shop due You’re better off landing with us,” ran an ad flight lane in fog. Instead of three months, the delay trols on the part of the supervisory to COVID-19. Public service func- for new staff at Lidl supermarket chain. Mit- If you find this to be a gross exaggera- would last another eight years. board and perhaps even attempts to tioned more or less flawlessly and teldeutsche Airport Holding, the company tion, then you have no idea what’s actually While people in many parts of conceal mistakes. with astounding efficiency – a good that runs airports in Leipzig, Halle and Dres- gone down at the construction site over the world complain about ignorant Mayor Wowereit, who also acted sign for a modern federal capital, with den, scoffed: “Better a 2-hour drive than a the past several years. And by the way, government administrations, there’s as head of the supervisory body, a new airport to boot. 13-year wait.” And even publications by the during the trial period this summer, with something special about the noncha- was busy with many other tasks Berlin airport company are captioned with: hundreds of extras posing as travelers, the lance of the Berlin bureaucracy. Its and failed to adequately attend to “Be the first!” power went out. inefficiency, incompetence and lack the colossal construction project. So Hannes Koch We Berliners are best at laughing at our- is a journalist and author of political accountability are leg- the invitations to the inaugural cer- selves. In November 2017, Berlin’s official Lorenz Maroldt endary. The underlying cause can in emony were already printed when living in Berlin. He is the airport chaplain wrote the following in BER cofounder of the press agency is editor-in-chief of the Berlin daily large part be found in the recent his- the company abruptly canceled the “die korrespondenten” and aktuell, a regional airport magazine: “Sec- Der Tagesspiegel. tory of the city that was divided until party. Officially, Wowereit was flab- recipient of the 2018 Theodor onds elapse, then minutes, then hours. One just over 30 years ago. For decades, bergasted, but he should have seen Wolff Prize. the municipal administration and the disaster coming.