Berlin airport to open in June 2018: newspaper

[BERLIN] Berlin's long-delayed international airport is scheduled to open in June next year, German weekly Bild am Sonntag reported, citing internal documents of the airport operator.

The documents include a target date of June 30, 2018 for opening the new airport, the newspaper said. Completion of the airport has repeatedly been delayed by red tape and technical problems.

Failure to complete the airport has been a major embarrassment to Berlin and Germany as a whole with its reputation for engineering and organisational prowess tarnished by mismanagement and waste of taxpayers' money over the project.

Berlin mayor Michael Mueller and Karsten Muehlenfeld, head of operator Flughafengesellschaft Berlin Brandenburg GmbH last month ruled out that the airport, dubbed BER, will be opened this year. "All participants are urged, verbally and in written form, to push for a swift completion of BER," a spokesman for the operator said by email on Sunday, declining further comment.

The airport, which was originally due to open in 2012, has been under construction since 2006.

REUTERS