Editor in chief at IamExpat Media
If you don’t want to until October to see BER, the forever-delayed Berlin Brandenburg Airport, it’s your lucky day. BER is looking for 20.000 volunteers to “test” the new German airport.
Under the motto, “Ready, set, test!” a new BER website is calling for 20.000 volunteers to put Berlin Brandenburg Airport through its paces. The “dress rehearsals” will take place over a period of 30 days, well in advance of the official grand opening of the airport on October 31, 2020, and will see volunteers testing various airport processes.
The tests begin on April 29 with a simulated evacuation of the airport, as 1.000 passengers attempt to leave the building as quickly as possible - expect crowds, as there is already a waiting list for this session!
Then, from June 23 to October 15, the “normal” tests will begin. These will focus on “everyday operations” such as check-ins, bag drops, security checks and boarding.
Anyone who “loves airports or is just curious” is invited to register their interest. Each volunteer will be allowed to participate in two sessions, and in return will receive coffee, water and food. The only proviso is that you must be at least 18 years old.
After years of delays, structural problems and corruption scandals, the long-awaited Berlin Brandenburg Airport has become something of a national laughing stock. The airport was originally supposed to open nine years ago - in October 2011 - but fire safety concerns prompted it to be postponed last minute.
Since then, multiple new opening dates have come and gone, as the project staggered from problem to problem and blew its initial budget of 2,83 billion euros three times over. Nonetheless, boss Engelbert Lütke Daldrup is certain that the October opening date is fixed: “This time it will work!”
Thumb photo credit: Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg GmbH / Günter Wicker