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Klaus-Heiner Röhl IW-Report No. 52 19. October 2020 Your Flight has a Nine Year Delay: The Opening of Berlin's New Major Airport is Overshadowed by the Corona Pandemic and Financial Problems

Only four weeks before the planned date in June 2012, the opening of Berlin's major airport BER, which had already been postponed from fall 2011, was canceled. This was followed by years of announcements, ever new lists of construction deficiencies and further delays.

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The Opening of Berlin's New Major Airport is Overshadowed by the Corona Pandemic and Financial Problems
Klaus-Heiner Röhl IW-Report No. 52 19. October 2020

Your Flight has a Nine Year Delay: The Opening of Berlin's New Major Airport is Overshadowed by the Corona Pandemic and Financial Problems

IW-Report

German Economic Institute (IW) German Economic Institute (IW)

Only four weeks before the planned date in June 2012, the opening of Berlin's major airport BER, which had already been postponed from fall 2011, was canceled. This was followed by years of announcements, ever new lists of construction deficiencies and further delays.

On October 31st 2020, the chaos of construction and planning that has damaged the reputation of German engineering in the world seems to come to an end: The new airport is finished and can be opened. The economy of the capital region should benefit from the new infrastructure, with the Brandenburg region around it already booming before opening of the airport. From 2012 to 2019, the number of passengers in Berlin grew by 41 per cent to 35.6 million, so that the new major airport was heading for a take-off under full load at the beginning of the year. But with the Covid 19 pandemic, air traffic has collapsed and the already difficult financial situation of the mega-project, which has cost 6.5 billion euros until now, threatens to get out of hand. In the books of the airport company, its infrastructure is worth about 5 billion euros - but it is unlikely to be worth much more than half that amount. A recapitalization by the shareholders seems inevitable. The involvement of private investors is possible, but also requires a prior correction of the financial imbalance.

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The Opening of Berlin's New Major Airport is Overshadowed by the Corona Pandemic and Financial Problems
Klaus-Heiner Röhl IW-Report No. 52 19. October 2020

Klaus-Heiner Röhl: Ihr Flug hat neun Jahre Verspätung – Die Eröffnung des neuen Berliner Großflughafens wird von der Corona-Pandemie überschattet

IW-Report

German Economic Institute (IW) German Economic Institute (IW)

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Thomas Puls in Italian Institute for International Political Studies External Publication 19. July 2023

Infrastructure: The Next German Challenge?

Closed bridges, outdated railway control centres, missing high-voltage power lines between north and south, as well as dead zones in the mobile network. In recent years, bad news about the German infrastructure has been piling up.

IW

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Thomas Puls / Jan Wendt IW-Report No. 35 22. June 2023

Better in the West refuel – An inventory of gasoline and diesel prices at the start of the vacations

On 22 June, the summer holidays begin in North Rhine-Westphalia. As every year, many will then be going on holiday by car and for this reason the prices of petrol and diesel regularly become a hot summer topic.

IW

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