BERLIN — After nine years of delays, Germany’s third-largest airport, in Berlin, is set to open — just as the global coronavirus pandemic is vastly reducing air traffic.

“It has been a long, difficult road until the final approval from the building authorities,” said Germany’s airports chief, Engelbert Lütke Daldrup.

But the Berlin Brandenburg Airport project has been riddled by so many delays, some government officials sound a bit skeptical that the new opening date — Oct. 31, with large airlines to begin service in November — will hold firm.

The new airport, in the southeast of Berlin, will replace several smaller airports that serve the city. Planning began in 1996, with an opening originally envisioned for 2006. But with the beginning of construction delayed, the first tentative opening was scheduled for the fall of 2011.