German Of The Day: Unter Beschuss

That means under fire.

Thank goodness Joe Biden has “made progress” and continues to have the situation under control.

A firefight broke out between unidentified gunmen, Western security forces and Afghan guards at the North Gate of Kabul airport on Monday, Germany’s armed forces said, as thousands of Afghans and foreigners thronged the airport, seeking to flee Taliban rule.

One Afghan guard was killed and three others were injured in the battle, which also involved US and German forces, the German military said on Twitter, without specifying whether the dead Afghan was one of the Taliban fighters deployed to guard the airport.

In dem Gefecht seien eine afghanische Sicherheitskraft getötet und drei weitere verletzt worden, meldete die Bundeswehr auf Twitter. Demnach ereignete sich der Angriff um 4.13 Uhr deutscher Zeit.

I Want That Blue Screen In The Middle

I’ll give you five bucks for it. I mean euros.

Tegel

Will they be auctioning off what used to be your airport soon too? I mean, if this lockdown madness continues much longer?

For Sale: Own A Piece Of Berlin Tegel Airport – Many were saddened when Berlin’s Tegel Airport shut its doors for the last time in November 2020. However, you can now own a piece of the historic airport as everything from chairs and screens to bus washing systems and snowplows from the historic airport are being auctioned online by Dechow.

Berlin Tegel Airport’s equipment is being sold following the closure of the airport in November. The airport had been serving the city of Berlin alongside the Soviet-era Schönefeld airport to the south of the city.

At the end of October, Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER) opened on Schönefeld Airport’s site, meaning that the capacity of the old Tegel Airport was no longer required. This was especially the case given the current colossal drop in air traffic prompted by the current aviation situation.

This Surreally Happened

Art for Art’s sake. You know Art, don’t you? From the cleaning crew?

Art

We need surrealism to deal with surreality, people. Or maybe we don’t. Hard to say for sure.

A Surrealist Yves Tanguy Painting Was Tossed in Trash at a German Airport – The painting, worth an estimated $340,000, was left behind by a traveler at Düsseldorf Airport and scrapped by a cleaning crew.

Early Retirement

If you ask me. So long, Tegel.

Tegel

Berlin bid farewell Sunday to the German capital’s central Tegel airport, beloved by some and reviled by others, as it shifts all air traffic to a new hub on the outskirts of the city.

On Saturday, airlines moved their last planes stationed at Tegel to the new Berlin Brandenburg Airport Willy Brandt, which finally opened at the end of October nine years late and far above its original budget.

The final scheduled flight took off Sunday afternoon from Tegel, an Air France jet to Paris, a tribute to the first commercial flight from the airport flown by the airline 60 years ago…

The first commercial flights began in 1960, when Air France started regular service to Tegel.

On October 31, 2020, BER Will Open

But don’t tell anyone, OK? It’s too embarrassing.

Airport

Berlin’s new international airport can open next month after an embarrassing nine-year delay despite the coronavirus pandemic taking a big bite out of air travel, its chief manager said Tuesday…

BER was set to open in 2011 but the date was repeatedly pushed back over a series of issues, including fire safety and corruption.

In the meantime, the cost of the facility exploded to 6.5 billon euros ($7.6 billion) from a 1.7-billion-euro budget initially.

“There won’t be a big party, just an opening.”

Your Flight From 2012 Is Now Ready For Boarding

What do you mean? Berlin’s party joke phantom airport may be opening after all?

Airport

Too bad I didn’t keep our plane tickets from 2012 as souvenirs. They showed us departing from Los Angeles (LAX) and arriving at Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER), which was just about to open. But the launch, already delayed the previous year, was again called off at the last minute. So we landed instead at the charming but small Tegel airport (TXL) that dates back to the early Cold War…

To pessimists, BER symbolizes Germany’s bad developments. Its highly publicized bureaucratic and engineering fiascoes have dented the country’s former reputation — not always entirely flattering — of being relentlessly meticulous and punctual. The subtext is that Germany, whether it’s building airports or algorithms, is increasingly leaving economic dynamism to others, especially China.

To optimists, this too is part of Germany’s long historical arc to “normality.” Germans today are more relaxed about their national identity and place in the world than they’ve ever been. That explains why they’ve also been nonchalant about BER’s travails. The truth is, many Germans have secretly been savoring the airport headlines as a font of gossip. Many an awkward dinner party has been saved by boozy debates about whether humans would set foot on Mars before disembarking at BER, or whether it would be more cost-effective to rebuild the capital near a working airport.

Berlin Tegel Airport Closing June 1, 2020

And Berlin Brandenburg Airport opens October 31, 2020. Let’s do the math.

BER

So, Berlin is down to just one world-class horrible airport for like five months? Until the next world-class horrible one comes along, I mean? Sheesh. Although with all this Corona going on maybe nobody will even notice.

Personally, I will miss Tegel. Maybe because it was so small and in the middle of town like that. You could walk around the entire main terminal in five minutes. Adieu, Tegel. It was in what used to be called the French Sector, after all.

This comes as the airport has seen a huge drop in passenger numbers, with passengers currently amounting to 1% of normal amounts. The company running the airport is allegedly losing one million Euros per day, so closing the airport will save costs.

Now That There Are No Flights Anymore

The long-delayed, delayed, delayed, delayed (since 2011) opening of the Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER) will finally go ahead as planned, planned, planned and planned.

BER

Clever, really. Almost diabolical.

‘No risks’ ahead of Berlin Brandenburg (BER) airport opening in October 2020 – According to its operator, there are no more obstacles to get in the way of the BER airport finally opening its doors in October this year.

“We do not see any risks ahead of the first operations in October 2020.”

What A Spooky Thought

That Berlin’s ghost airport could finally, like, actually, you know, well, open? Sends shivers down my spine.

Airport

But I don’t believe in ghost airports. That eventually open, I mean. You can’t scare me with that nonsense. So don’t even try.

After a 13-year saga punctuated by scandals, bankruptcies and comical setbacks, Berlin’s new airport could finally open in 2020 – nine years behind schedule.

An exact opening date for Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER) – October 31, 2020 – was announced last week, with Dietmar Woidke, Minister President of the German state of Brandenburg.

“This time it will happen.”

Boo!