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Tegel to get €50m facelift amid Berlin airport delay

Published: 8 Feb 13 07:52 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/national/20130208-47843.html

With the opening of Berlin's new airport indefinitely delayed, officials are reportedly preparing to pump up to €50 million into the capital's ageing Tegel terminal, which is struggling to deal with large numbers of diverted passengers.

Tegel Airport should already have closed down last June, and has long been deprived of investment as all attention and money has been focused on efforts at the new BER terminal being built near Schönefeld Airport, daily newspaper Bild reported on Friday.

But the severe problems being experienced there mean it is not expected to open for possibly another two years, leaving Tegel and Schönefeld to handle air traffic in and out of the city. Tegel as it is will not cope for that long, the paper said.

Now Berlin airport technical boss Horst Amann is preparing to invest €30 million in Tegel's infrastructure, the paper said it had learned from sources in the supervisory board which oversees the corporation running all the city's airports.

This €30 million will pay for a general overhaul of the main building, the construction of new toilets and parking spaces as well as the installation of new information boards and a renovation of air conditioning and heating systems, the paper said.

A further €20 million is being earmarked to change Tegel's Terminal C in order to reduce waiting times including more check-in counters, security areas and baggage carousels.

A corporation representative told Bild: "Discussions of these measures have not yet been conclusive. They are still being checked."

The enormous new airport project is still inching forwards, double its original €2 billion budget, and massively behind schedule.

On Thursday, the head of the Märkische sewage association was suspended after being accused of corruption in connection with contracts to work on the new airport. He and a businessman have been in investigative custody since January 24th.

The Local/DPA/hc

What do you think? Leave your comment below.


Your comments about this article:

09:24 February 8, 2013 by Berlin fuer alles
Ah yes, just throw more money away and screw that one up also. Incompetent lazy Germans (BILD).
12:12 February 8, 2013 by sonriete
It's a better location for an airport anyway.
14:15 February 8, 2013 by notelove2
I'm glad they are improving Tegel - it should not be closed. Most major cities have more than 1 airport - why shouldn't Berlin?
17:15 February 8, 2013 by pjnt
Incompetence and corruption. Yet no heads roll. lol.
17:47 February 8, 2013 by The-ex-pat
This €30 million will pay for a general overhaul of the main building, the construction of new toilets and parking spaces as well as the installation of new information boards and a renovation of air conditioning and heating systems, the paper said.

30 million for a couple of toilets, a lick of paint, some oversized TV screens and a car park or two.................I can't wait until these people do my local airport, I may put in a bid................and then retire to the sun...........
23:36 February 10, 2013 by strahlungsamt
Typical Germans, wasting money again. Wasn't Hauptbahnhof bad enough for them? Berlin had more than enough stations already Why build another one? Plus they killed off the legendary Bahnhof Zoo in the process.

The current expansion of the U5 was supposed to go to Tegel. It would have connected up areas in Berlin that currently have no U-Bahn. (Those out-of-service tracks in Jungfernheide were intended for the U5). The U7 was supposed to be extended to Schoenefeld. There were even plans to build a fast S-Bahn to connect the two. That would be money better spent plus ordinary Berliners would benefit from it.

Two airports in Berlin serve the city just fine. London has at least four and I don't hear anyone complaining.

And don't even mention the clusterphuck the Berliner S-Bahn has become since they went on the stock market.

It's just another way of extracting money from the taxpayer so some rich criminals can get richer.
11:14 February 14, 2013 by blackboot11
I agree that Berlin deserves 2 airports.

Who was the 'mastermind' that agreed to close Tempelhof, Schönefeld and Tegel in exchange for this disaster called 'BER' ?

Many contemporary and cosmopolitan cities have more than one airport, why can't Berlin????

TXL is a GREAT airport and it is a HUGE mistake to close it in this MONEY LAUNDERING scheme that is going on !!!!!
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