Berlin Brandenburg preps for 31 October opening following long, troubled slog

Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg (FBB), the operator of the long-delayed Berlin Brandenburg International airport, is getting set for a 31 October opening, revealed details about festivities and the first arriving jets. FBB Friday said that events celebrating the new airport’s initiation will last two weeks as traffic shifts from Berlin Tegel International airport, which has been the city’s primary airport since it opened in 1948. “The highlight will be on 31 October... On this day, Terminal 1 will begin operations. One aircraft each from EasyJet and Lufthansa will land simultaneously [on parallel runways]. On 8 November the airport in Tegel will receive an appropriate send off.” Tegel, located northwest of Berlin, has been the primary airfield for commercial passenger service to the German city for more than 70 years. During the country’s division between 1961 and the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, Tegel along with Berlin-Tempelhof, in the city’s centre, serviced the western part of the divided city. Berlin-Schoenefeld airport, southeast of Berlin and the location of the new airport facility, had been the main field for former East Germany during the 29 years that the two Germanies were separate countries.<br/>