How to Fuck Up an Airport

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This is the train that runs night with no passengers, through the tunnels just to keep the air moving. We've drawn on several key sources for all the facts, including the two thousand and 16 burl in parliamentary inquiry into b r. Frank wellescop's two thousand and nine book, b i a noa berlina bank scandal. The hurdy school of governants report into public interstructure planning from two thousand and 15. Our own interviews with original sources. Special thanks to the band ducks for creating the music for this series,. And to jim avenon for designing the art work. For more berlin musi english, visit the radio spake calf archive at

BER is the international airport code for Berlin Brandenburg Airport, nickname Willy Brandt. It has also become a signifier of failure, incompetence, corruption and Berlin’s general inability to get its act together.

If you’ve flown to Berlin Schönefeld Airport in the last few years, you’ll have seen BER as your plane taxied along the runway. But despite outward appearances, BER is far from finished. It has been under construction for 11 years, blown through six opening dates, three general managers and two state leaders. Costs have ballooned from around €1 billion to at least €5.4 billion.

Across this series, you’ll learn why the escalators are too short, why the lights are always on, and why the rooms seemed to be numbered by bingo. We’ll interview insiders and disgruntled workers, chase ghost trains running to the terminal, and go inside the unfinished airport.

On this episode we’ll go way back to before any plans had been drawn, before even the Berlin wall had come down, to discover the foundational flaws that continue to haunt the unfinished airport.

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