BER said in a statement that some of the milestones for the completion of BER—such as requirements to complete of the smoke extraction system, which also affects delivery bays—are the current reason for the delay.

However, BER explained this issue is of no relevance to the overall planning, the completion of the construction work in the second quarter of 2016, or the planned opening of the airport in the second half of 2017 because these tasks are being undertaken in parallel.

Since construction work began in 2006, costs for Germany’s third biggest airport have reportedly increased from €2 billion to € 5.4 billion—excluding costs for ground transportation and traffic connections.

When it opens, the airport is projected to be able to handle 27 million passengers.

The much-delayed opening of Berlin Brandenburg International Airport is a “huge disadvantage for Germany′s second largest carrier airberlin,” the airline’s new CEO Stefan Pichler told ATW in February.

Pichler said, “I can only ask all the officials—everybody who is involved, all the management—to speed up the effort. I cannot think that we need until 2017 to open up this airport; this is just a joke,” he said.

The delay has negatively affected expansion plans for the oneworld carrier.（Kurt Hofmann）