Berlin Breaks Ground on New International Airport

People who want to visit Berlin have so far had three airports to choose from: the two city airports Tegel and Tempelhof as well as Schönefeld, in the southeastern corner of the capital.

By Oct. 2011, there will only be one left: the main airport Berlin Brandenburg International, BBI, which will be constructed on a 1,470-hectar (3,632-acre) site next to Schönefeld, once the airport of East Berlin.

The government is proud of its new baby, but it will cost German tax payers about 2.6 billion euros ($3.3 billion) after all attempts failed to find private investors.

According to Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit, however, this will be the money well spent.

"Berlin is an international metropolis, the capital of one of the biggest countries in Europe and of course it has to have something that stands out from the rest, and that is always an airport," Wowereit said. "It's not going to be a marble palace and it's not going to be a wooden shack. What we will build is a solid, functional airport which will also be very appealing architecturally."

Improvements on the way

A lot of things are supposed to improve: Much more space for passengers at check-ins, state-of-the-art security technology and fast transport connections to the city center. The airport is also expected to provide an economic stimulus and offer additional 40,000 jobs for the financially struggling region.

The supporters of the airport have come a long way: BBI should have been finished by the end of this year, but breakdowns and massive protests delayed the start of construction for years.

Some 4,000 residents instigated legal actions, complaining about the expected increased in noise levels. After a lengthy legal battle, however, the Federal Administrative Court decided in March to give the airport the go-ahead. The only consolation for residents is that there will be stricter noise regulations.

No more low-cost?

The airport will have two runaways and a single terminal building. But European low-cost airlines, who are nowadays flying to and from Berlin's Schönefeld airport, have criticized BBI as a project whose design and infrastructure were biased towards traditional carriers like Lufthansa.

"The idea to dispatch low-cost and traditional carriers under one roof is simply absurd," said John Hanlon, secretary general of the European Low Fares Airline Association (EFLAA). "Berlin would ignore the fundamental trend in European air traffic."

EFLAA is worried that low-cost airlines will not be able to compete if their profits are eroded by high costs of operating from BBI.

But Berlin's mayor, who is facing re-election on Sept. 17, defended the plans.

"We can't build the airport to cater to the needs of individual carriers," Wowereit said.

Many experts have cautioned that BBI fans' dream of it becoming a big international hub won't come true. Berlin has arrived on the scene simply too late to pose a serious competitive threat to London's Heathrow or Paris' Charles de Gaulle.

Another fact is that initially only 22 to 25 million passengers will be able to pass through the new airport per year, only half the number already processed by Germany's biggest airport in Frankfurt.