Auf Wiedersehen, Tegel: Berlin Bids Farewell to Popular City Airport

Berlin (dpa) - As the sun set over Tegel Airport on a recent autumn evening in Berlin, onlookers gathered on the roof of the hexagonal Terminal A to enjoy the view.

For many, it could well be their last visit. Hundreds of people have flocked to the rooftop observation deck this month for a parting look at the airport, which is scheduled to close next month.

The fact that Tegel Airport still exists is only thanks to a series of delays and blunders at the German capital's new BER Airport, which is now due to open on October 31, nine years behind schedule.

Many travellers have cherished their final TXL boarding cards as a relic of the Cold War-era airport, which is centrally located in the city's north-west, while the existing Schoenefeld Airport and the adjacent new site are situated south-east of the city in the state of Brandenburg.

"But Tegel has become far too small and no longer meets the standards of a modern airport," Engelbert Luetke Daldrup, head of Berlin Brandenburg Airport, which manages all three airports, recently told reporters.

"Whoever has stood in line in the morning at Terminal C security with 1,500 people will know what I mean," he added.

An airfield was built in Tegel in 1948, shortly after the onset of the Soviet blockade on West Berlin. Back then, no one could have guessed that the site would grow to become the German capital's gateway to the world. The first civil airliner didn't land at Tegel until 1960.

Construction of Terminal A began in 1970 and it was inaugurated four years later.

Today, the airport is known for its unusual architecture, designed by Meinhard von Gerkan and Volkwin Marg. The main terminal building is shaped like a hexagon around a drop-off point, allowing for a short walking distance to each gate.

Until the onset of the coronavirus crisis, passenger numbers had steadily risen over the years, with around 24 million flying via the airport in 2019.

After its closure, a utopian-sounding "Urban Tech Republic" is to emerge on the former airport site over the coming decades.

It will house a park for research and industry, with up to 1,000 companies and institutes set to move in. The landmark Terminal A will become a campus for university students.

The model neighbourhood is also to become home to over 10,000 people in new apartments made of timber. The "Schumacher Quarter" will be largely car-free.

Construction is scheduled to begin next year, with the Tegel Project company's managing director, Philipp Bouteiller, expecting the first people to move in in 2026. The entire project could take 20-30 years to complete.

That is assuming that everything goes according to plan. Berlin has become used to grand projects getting bogged down by delays in recent years, including at Tegel's replacement airport.

Not everyone agrees with the decision to close Tegel. In a 2017 referendum, 1 million Berliners - a slim majority - backed calls to keep the airport open.

"As a city airport, it not only has an unbeatable advantage in terms of location for business and trade fairs, it is also a relief programme for BER, which is quite clearly dysfunctional," said Sebastian Czaja, a leading member of the pro-business Free Democrats in the Berlin state parliament.

But the 2017 referendum was non-binding and the bid to save Tegel ended up being in vain.

The airport is scheduled to close for regular air traffic on November 7, and TXL will say goodbye for good the following day, with a symbolic flight to Paris operated by Air France, the first airline to land at Tegel back in 1960.

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