Designated the IATA code BER, the airport will secure the air traffic infrastructure for the Berlin-Brandenburg region and thus replace the existing airport system: the first step towards this goal was the closure of Tempelhof Airport on 30 October 2008. The closure of Tegel Airport is due to follow in 2012 when Berlin Brandenburg Airport opens.

The concept for Berlin Brandenburg Airport envisages a modern airport with short distances where the terminal is located between two parallel runways. BER will be a new-generation airport: inexpensive, functional and cosmopolitan with a modern architecture. The capital region will be able to provide business travellers, tourists and companies with a new airport that offers the best connections, international flights, direct motorway access, and a railway station directly below the terminal.

A starting capacity of up to 27 million passengers is planned for 2012. Depending on passenger development, the airport can be expanded to accommodate up to 45 million passengers. This means that Berlin Brandenburg Airport will provide the German capital region with the capacity it requires for the coming decades.

Marketplace
A 9,000 m² marketplace forms the centrepiece of the retail concept in the main terminal. All departing passen-gers will walk through it.

Numerous areas are also being developed landside: over 4,000 m² of space for retail, food and service outlets in the public area on the departures level, the arrivals level and the feeder level above the railway station.

Airport City
In addition to the shops and food service outlets in the terminal building, an urbane service centre is being planned in front of the terminal: Airport City. The complex will provide a wide choice of hotels and restaurants, bars and cafes, conference facilities and a range of other services.

Business Park Berlin
The capital’s biggest business park is to be built to the north-east of the airport: the Business Park Berlin. The 109-hectare site will offer a selection of plots, which can be flexibly divided up into made-to-measure, fully developed sites, suitable for all types of businesses – from business start-ups to back offices, from regional distribution centres to multinational producers.

Rail Connections
The railway station: Berlin Brandenburg Airport has a six-track railway station with three platforms directly be-low the terminal offering very good connections to downtown Berlin and the surrounding region. The goal of the planners – one in two travellers will come to the new airport using public transportation.

Airport Express: The Airport Express already connects Schoenefeld Airport with downtown Berlin. As of June 2012, trains will depart every 15 minutes, arriving in the city centre in just under 30 minutes. Numerous S-Bahn trains (every 10 minutes) and bus connections complement the public transportation offers.

Regional and long-distance: Deutsche Bahn will include Berlin Brandenburg Airport in its route network and offer international and regional connections, primarily to Poland and the Czech Republic. The tracks to and from the new airport are fully compatible with the ICE.

Railway station
In June 2010 Berlin Airports handed over the western section of the railway tunnel, which is the final section of the underground BER railway systems, to DB Netz AG. The rail link at the new Capital Airport, comprising 15 km of tracks for intercity and regional services and 8 km of S-Bahn railway tracks, is nearing completion. The tracks have already been laid between Mahlow and Schoenefeld railway station in the west and Görlitzerbahn in the east, the overhead lines are in place and the signals erected. The S-Bahn line, which terminated at Schoenefeld railway station, is now being extended to Berlin Brandenburg Airport and a new station, “Waßmannsdorf”, is currently being built.

Work is also progressing inside the airport tunnel on the overhead lines for the intercity and regional tracks as well as the power rails for the S-Bahn tracks. The flooring is being laid, the metal wall panelling mounted and the control centre equipped in the railway station.

Aircraft operation areas
Excavation and ground preparing work for the runways and the taxiways started in spring 2008; the concreting work for the taxiways was completed in late summer 2008 and all the concrete had been laid for the new south runway one year later. The total area of the newly built aircraft operating areas (runways, taxiways and aprons) is almost 1.7 million square metres, and more than 1.1 million cubic metres of concrete were used. The new runway has a total length of 4,000 metres and is 60 metres wide; the runway consists of four different layers with a total thickness of 1.3 metres. In early June, Berlin Airports successfully completed the final tests of the runway lights for the new south runway.

Baggage sorting hall
On 1 February 2010, the baggage sorting hall at Berlin Brandenburg Airport was handed over to the firm Van-derlande Industries. Vanderlande immediately began installing the state-of-the-art baggage sorting system. Two completely independent computer-controlled systems with state-of-the-art technology will minimise pas-senger waiting times while ensuring maximum security. The BER baggage conveyor system can sort up to 15,000 suitcases per hour. All items of luggage undergo a three-stage security check before departure. Trial runs began in autumn 2010.

Components for SMEs
The construction of the airport has been a success for the local economy. So far, 360 companies, or almost two-thirds of all contracts, from the Berlin-Brandenburg region have secured contracts for Berlin Brandenburg Airport as a result of tender notifications. By the end of 2010, over €2 billion worth of contracts were awarded.

A concept has been developed in cooperation with the IHK Cottbus where companies and bidding consortia from the Berlin-Brandenburg region can register in a bidder’s directory at the Chamber of Commerce (www.abst-brandenburg.de).

Christian Spaak, Berlin Airports Commercial Director will be presenting the BER Case Study at The Future of AirRail – Airport Rail Terminal Integration conference taking place in London Heathrow Sofitel Hotel on 20th October 2011.

Sign in with a social network: