At its meeting on 15.12.2017, the Supervisory Board of the airport dealt with the current status of the construction of BER and its subsequent opening. After a detailed review and explanation of the underlying conditions for determining an opening date by CEO, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Engelbert Lütke Daldrup, an intensive discussion took place with experts from FBB as well as external experts from Project Management, the planning authorities and TÜV Rheinland. In addition to individual topics such as fire protection, doors and sprinklers, aspects such as the rigour of risk assessment that has just been completed were also focused on, bearing in mind the experiences regarding the reliability of forecasts over the past few years.
The Supervisory Board of Berlin Brandenburg Airport GmbH approved the executive report to plan for commissioning of BER in October 2020. As a result of the intensive discussion, a consensus was reached indicating that a responsible and valid assessment is now available which provides a realistic basis for further work until commissioning.
In addition to the aspects of the construction schedule and associated processing of the remaining deficiencies in building services, the financing issues arising from the opening date were also discussed. For this purpose, it was agreed that it was necessary to determine the exact additional financing needs as quickly as possible on the basis of the opening date. FBB will use all available options for equity and debt financing. The Supervisory Board will be advised in its meeting at the beginning of March 2018 about the additional financing required until opening.
State Secretary Rainer Bretschneider, Chairman of the Supervisory Board: “I am convinced of the validity of the current planning. I was convinced by today’s discussion. Now it will be important to implement the planning properly and purposefully. It’s about winning back lost trust.”
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Engelbert Lütke Daldrup, CEO Berlin Brandenburg Airport GmbH: “Today’s Supervisory Board meeting marks the start of the final phase of the terminal’s completion, and thus the start of BER. It is important that the Supervisory Board gave its support to the opening date of October 2020 after an engaging debate. The schedule is authoritative and reliable. This allows us to achieve both security and orientation.”
