Now closed, it's been transformed into a park and sought-after location for World War II movies. Germany: North Stream 2 Pipeline Might Go Down the Tubes, Made in Germany: The Top 10 Most Interesting Movies, Berlin’s ‘Tierpark’: The Only Place to Go…, Kool & the Gang to Deliver the Funk to Germany in…. "He needed to be in a very important meeting at our hotel and also needed to catch his flight that afternoon. Berlin Tegel Airport, which was closed after serving for seven decades on November 8, 2020, will be re-opened in mid-December 2020 as a vaccination center against the COVID-19 pandemic, announced the government of Germany. At that time, passenger flights were down to 2 percent compared to their number before Corona hit. It was decorated in vintage Lufthansa markings and presented to the airline by Boeing as a gift in 1986. The Airbus of the French airline Air France takes off from Tegel Airport (TXL) to Paris, in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, Nov. 8, 2020. Tilman Hierath is the managing partner of the Circus Hotel on Rosenthaler Platz as well as an enthusiastic hobby pilot and loves to use the airport. On December 20th, the 35 millionth passenger of the year was drowned in prizes. The closure was confirmed following years of delays to the opening of the new airport to the south of the city, Brandenburg Airport , which would emerge as the one main airport serving the city. The Project Group Tegel starts working on proposals for the subsequent use of the site after the airport closes. "To me and many other West Berliners, Tegel really was a place apart," Bukowiecki adds. Reunification also meant that passenger numbers and flights increased exponentially as air travel became more and more commonplace. Car rental at Berlin Tegel Airport is offered by the following companies: Avis, Europcar, Sixt. Tegel closure. The honour of the final flight went to Air France, who operated its scheduled service to Paris shortly before the runways closed at 18:00. Interesting Facts About Flights from Berlin to Chicago (TXL to ORD) ... Read more close. ”, Tilman Hierath, managing partner of Berlin's Circus Hotel. Imanuel Marcus is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Berlin Spectator. Tempelhof Airport had a capacity problem which is why an additional airport was needed. When Tegel was closed, things were particularly emotional because for many Berliners a piece of their personal (travel) history is related to this ensemble from the 1970s by famous german architect Meinhard von Gerkan. Berlin's weary Tegel Airport should've closed years ago, but despite being cramped and outdated, it survived repeated attempts to kill it off. There was no direct public transport connection either. Eventually it was shuffled off to a far-flung corner of the airfield, occasionally being used for evacuation training. The German capital’s most important airport will be “temporarily” closed to reduce the losses of the operating business. Travelers using Berlin's U-Bahn metro system had to change to a bus at Kurt-Schumacher-Platz. Tegel Airport closes with the departure of the last scheduled flight number AF 1235 at 15:00. For her, the airport became the only means of escaping a city surrounded by communism. On September 1, 1975, Pan Am and British Airways moved their entire Berlin operation here overnight. On October 8, 2020, Air France operated flight AF1235, with the Airbus A320-200 F-GKXP from Berlin-Tegel Airport (TXL) towards Paris-Charles de Gaulle (CDG). Like so many other things in the city, Tegel Airport is a stopgap measure that somehow became permanent. In Germany it only happens every decades that an airport is opened or closed. "I used it often to travel for work; but at the same time in the '80s the airport was already used for the deportation of asylum seekers. Eight of them were domestic, one went to Helsinki. The airport fire brigade at Tegel Airport (TXL) sprayed water fountains on the Airbus of the French airline Air France as a farewell before its take-off for Paris in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, Nov. 8, 2020. 2008. After the blockade ended six months later, Tegel became the Berlin base of the French Air Force. (Read separate article ‘No Inauguration Party for BER Airport Because of Embarrassing Delay‘)> Tegel Airport will be closed for good on November 8th, 2020.‘> Schönefeld Airport will become Terminal 5 of BER Airport on October 25th, 2020. The airport continued to make an impression on Berliners, especially after a new, mildly brutalist and hexagonally shaped terminal building was opened in 1974. But Brandenburg's decade of delays kept it alive as a stand-in, and for all its faults, it had many admirers. Originally from Hamburg, he used to be a war reporter in Bosnia and Croatia, and a U.S. correspondent for German and Swiss radio stations in Washington D.C.. When Berlin Brandenburg Airport goes into operation, Tegel Airport will finally close. The closure of Tegel is bittersweet to many locals. Tegel Airport is closing on June 15th; Schönefeld Airport, the low cost airport, will remain open and become the new “Terminal 5 of…” BER Airport. > Tegel Airport was supposed to be closed for good on November 8th, 2020, and converted into some kind of industrial complex. Tegel Airport is scheduled to close for good on November 8, 2020. As Brandenburg cranks into action, Berlin's Tegel Airport -- a much-loved relic from the last century -- on Sunday, at long last, was closing for good. The latest on Tegel Airport: Tegel Airport: Sixty Years Later, the Last Flight is Gone (November 8th, 2020). In 2012, the airport was due to close. "The airport may have been considered modern and appropriate when it was opened but, especially over the last decade, passengers were to experience its downsides, like often feeling crammed and chaotic -- and definitely the lack of space. "Many Tegel regulars rave about its proximity to the city center, which makes for a quick transfer into town -- unless you were using public transport. They are already renaming this airport’s terminals. In 1906, a hangar was built for testing of Groß-Basenach and Parseval type airships. Lukas Koster , CC BY-SA Brandenburg is the newest airport on the scene, but despite building … Sunday, Nov. 8 marked the end of an era in Berlin, Germany, as Tegel Airport, the main airport which has represented the capital for decades, came to a close after more than 70 years of operation. But with the new Berlin Brandenburg to finally open (fingers crossed) later this year, would there really be any need to reopen Tegel? All Rights Reserved. Once the final flight leaves it in early November, Tegel Airport will not just rot and fall apart. Berlin’s Tegel Airport (IATA: TXL) will close on June 15, four months earlier than planned, after the city’s government decided to shut down operations due to the lack of demand resulting from the Covid-19 crisis. Business Opinion: Closing Berlin's Tegel airport is a huge mistake the city will regret. That is because the airports in Frankfurt, Munich and Düsseldorf were designed to be West Germany’s major hubs during the Cold War, when West Berlin was surrounded by the GDR. Still one of its owners, the Federal Republic of Germany, vetoed its closure. But Tegel's car-friendly design endeared the airport to many, especially in the Berlin hospitality sector. All air traffic in the capital region is thus concentrated at Berlin Brandenburg Willy Brandt Airport. Of all of them, it's Tegel that holds a special place in the heart of many Berliners. Berlin's long standing Tegel Airport that served as one of the gateways to the city for 60 years was permanently shut down in early November. Tegel has always seemed an appropriate entrance to Berlin. Tegel was scheduled to close early because of the pandemic, but still came back for more. Despite its relatively small size, it became Germany's fourth busiest airport and symbolized Berlin like few other public buildings. Berlin Tegel Airport is the larger of the two Berlin airports currently in operation. "So Tegel truly became my gateway to the world, also because I took a plane for the first time in my life from here.". Personally, I won't be missing Tegel, except perhaps from a nostalgic aspect.". Following the final departure, there was a small closing ceremony. He also lived in Mexico and Bulgaria. Even efforts to permanently close the airport earlier this year due to the coronavirus pandemic failed. "Tegel is easily the best airport in the world," he says. So for me and my generation Tegel is the true Berlin airport, a part of us and the one place that enabled us to fly to freedom!". Tegel (the international airport code is TXL) polarized more and more until recently. "It symbolized the glamorous world of air travel with its shops that sold wonderful things and the whole process of taking a flight which was very different in the 1970s. E.U. The city's special status during the Cold War meant that only the Allies could operate military and civilian aircraft from and to Tegel. It's not a sleekly designed airport strewn with massage seats and smart screens. A Douglas C-54 loaded with food touched down on November 5th, 1948. Berliners voted to keep the historic Tegel airport open even after a new international hub is completed, creating a headache for the German capital's government, which wanted it closed. Now it might be shut down a lot earlier. The city’s historic Cold War-era airport, Tegel (TXL), shut its doors for good with a final Air France departure at 3 p.m. local time. Aviation history dates back to the early 20th century, when the Royal Prussian Airship battalion was based there and the area became known as Luftschiffhafen Reinickendorf. "And I don't only say that because I'm madly in love with its '70s ugliness. © 2021 - The Berlin Spectator. "Tegel's unique architecture and design make you feel like being time-warped into the 1970s," says frequent traveler Michael Stoffl, from Berlin. Find the perfect Tegel Airport To Close In 2012 stock photos and editorial news pictures from Getty Images. ‘Goodbye Tegel’: The End of Berlin’s Last Airport, An Airport for Skaters, Cyclists and Dogs, No Inauguration Party for BER Airport Because of Embarrassing Delay, the 35 millionth passenger of the year was drowned in prizes, Berlin: Health Authority Closes Clinic Because of Corona Mutation Cases, Germany: Kretschmer Calls for End of Corona Lockdown in Mid-February, E.U. The opening in late October 2020 of Berlin’s long awaited new airport – almost a decade late – marks the end of an era for Tegel. As the blockade he ordered began in June 1948, it turned out quickly that there was need for an additional airfield to bring supplies in, so the French authorities in charge of the Tegel district ordered the construction of a 2,500-meter-long runway -- the longest in Europe at the time. In 2017, the public were asked whether they wanted Berlin Tegel Airport to remain open. Berlin, May 20th, 2020, updated on October 12th, 2020 (The Berlin Spectator) — When the Soviets tried to starve the inhabitants of the city’s Western sectors with their Berlin Blockade, the Western Allies commenced with the Berlin Air Lift. SWISS - (LX) with about 1 end of day scheduled flights between ORD and TXL from 6:00pm to 11:00pm. The number of passengers across both Tegel and Schönefeld is now said to stand at just 1% of regular traffic – an environment in which Berlin's airport owner FBB reportedly sees " a deficit of one million Euros per day." Tegel has earned a place in history thanks to its role in serving the former West Berlin during the years when the city was divided. However, in 2017 Berliners voted to keep this airport open, in a referendum, but authorities emphasized that it would be closed in 2020. At the other end of Tegel is the small but quirky. Berlin mayor Michael Müller told public broadcaster rbb that “it makes no sense to keep two facilities open” in the midst of the crisis. While a new third terminal was added in 2007, Tegel became increasingly cramped, with operations and facilities clearly outdated. It was projected to handle nearly 2.5 million passengers a year, but the latter welcomed over 20 million travellers. With German reunification in 1990 and the government moving from Bonn to Berlin, all restrictions on Berlin air traffic were lifted and Tegel became the official German government airport. Instead, like the city it serves, it has a shabby charm and a good heart. Air France flight AF1235 was the final aircraft to depart from Berlin Tegel Airport (TXL) heading for Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG). 60 years after being the first to land, Air France was the last to depart. A flight conducted from the Air France company, on November 8, in the Berlin Tegel “Otto Lilienthal” airport, was the last one to be conducted, as the airport closed its doors forever after 60 years of operating. All passengers had to use the airport's original small prefabricated terminal building. There's a perfect beach for every week of the year. Schönefeld really is so far away from the city center. In summer, things improved when thousands of Germans flew to Spain and other vacation spots. On the day these photos were shot, May 20th, 2020, Tegel Airport was a sorry sight. Danke Tegel: End of an Era for Long-Time Berlin Airport. It is understood that this move will save airport operator FBB around US$220,000 per day, amounting to US$12.3m over that eight week period. Soon, Berlin will have two former airports, Tempelhof and Tegel, the hexagon design of which was and still is revolutionary. Air France, the airline that operated the first regular flight to and from Tegel will also be the last one to fly people out of there. At the end of the runway sits an old Boeing 707, originally operated by El Al, that was once the target on an attempt by Palestinian terrorists to hijack it in 1970. You cannot print contents of this website. And don’t forget to turn off the lights. Tegel was designed for handling 2.5 million passengers a year, but 24 million people flew from here in 2019. Tegel was not designed to intimidate and impress, it was designed to be at the traveler's service.". "In the morning my neighbor came to me and asked if I had heard all the planes flying low over the house all night -- they were moving them from Tempelhof to Tegel," she says. LONDON – Berlin Tegel Airport is set to close on June 15 for around two months due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic. Long-delayed Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER), which opened on 31 October, will handle all flights to and from the German capital. Instead, we were able to drop our guests off directly at their gate. Real estate developers and architects are ready to reinvent the airport: There are plans to develop the site into a so-called "Urban Tech Republic," a high tech business hub that could provide 18,000 jobs. Tempelhof Airport closed in 2008 and is now a park.