The a Three 80 - The Biggest Airplane Ever Built

2min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

The a three 80 is the largest passenger plane ever built, with two floors and 500 forty four seats. The first working model flew from singapore to sydney at the end of two thousand and seven in berlin. There was just one problem, the a three 80 wasn't coming to berlin. No airland ever announced they wanted to start and land with the big planes in ber Berlin. It was nothing lans plant ahead to lufthanser. B e 's biggest customer, bought a fleet of a three eighties and stationed them at frankfort, but never committed to landing them at b e r berlin.

Days away from the planned 2012 opening party, nothing seemed wrong at BER. What was really going on? On this episode, we look at how the airport managers and politicians were messing with the plans, even as construction was underway.

They demanded a 70% increase in terminal space to add hundreds of extra shops, and requested special double story boarding gates for the supersized Airbus A380, even though no airline requested it. Instead of a working fire safety system, they planned to hire up to 800 people to act as human fire alarms.

Despite multiple warnings, the airport board pushed ahead with opening party plans right up until May 8, 2012, when the first major delay was announced. We meet the man who put a stop to it all – Stephan Loge, the administrator of the Brandenburg building department.

Also on this episode, Joel and Jöran visit the Schönefeld S-Bahn station in search of the empty train that runs nightly to the unfinished airport to keep air moving through the tunnels.

Presented by Radio Spaetkauf and RadioEins Producers: Joel Dullroy, Maisie Hitchcock, Jöran Mandik and Daniel Stern Music: Ducks! Artwork: Jim Avignon