A piece of news is causing a stir across the country: All digital signage displays at the future Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER) need to be replaced before opening. Over 750 displays have been running more or less continuously in the unused terminal for six years. Now it's time for a change.
Before Opening: 750 FIDS Displays Need to Be Replaced
For the experienced invidis reader, the news comes as no surprise. For the daily press, however, it’s a field day. The BZ reports today that 750 passenger information displays need to be replaced. And this is two years before the first passenger is scheduled to enter the terminal in 2020.
The displays have been running for six years and have now reached the end of their service life. The displays were installed for trial operation in 2012 – that was six years ago. Aside from dummy data, little was ever displayed on them.
The monitors were installed in 2012 before the planned opening, which, after several postponements, is now targeted for autumn 2020. According to press reports, 100 of the displays are still functional and are slated for installation at Tegel and Schönefeld airports. Naturally, the daily press makes no mention of the long-expired warranties.
Replacing the digital signage will cost around €500,000 – that’s €667 per display. With construction costs rising from €2.0 billion to €6.5 billion, the investment in the new displays is just a drop in the ocean. But be warned: the terminal isn’t scheduled to open until autumn 2020 at the earliest, by which time the new screens will already be halfway through their lifespan without having displayed the correct departure gate or time to a single real passenger.