BERLIN (Reuters) - After 14 years of construction and six delayed openings, Berlin’s new airport is due to welcome its first passengers on Saturday. But the timing could not be worse.The COVID-19 pandemic has plunged the global aviation industry into its deepest ever crisis, and recovery is not expected for at least a couple of years. That has left the new airport, originally called Berlin Brandenburg Airport but now known by its code BER, looking for extra funds to help pay its debts. Built on the site of Schoenefeld airport in former East Berlin, BER has been beset by problems. The construction planning company went bankrupt; fire doors, cabling and sprinklers had faults; and costs ballooned to 6 billion euros ($7.1 billion) from an initial budget of 2 billion. The setbacks further dented Germany’s reputation for efficiency following long delays on other high-profile projects, such as the Elbphilharmonie concert hall in Hamburg. Economists have come to describe Berlin’s state-owned airport operator, Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg GmbH (FBB), as a financial black hole.