Berlin’s new airport is fully taken over by Willy Brandt’s new airport, which has been in operation since Saturday last week. Berlin Mayor Michael Müller called today a historic moment full of emotion.
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The last flight from Tegel, sent by the French company Air France to Paris, took off at about 15:40, which was a 40-minute delay compared to the planned departure. The choice of French airlines was symbolic, as the first scheduled flight to Tegel in the then western part of the divided city was also made by Air France in January 1960.
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The last plane was escorted to the take-off point by a convoy of service vehicles whose drivers had sirens sounded. The plane also received a festive fountain in the form of spraying from fire trucks.
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Among others, the mayor of Berlin Müller, the French ambassador to Germany Anne-Marie Descôtes and the head of the German branch of Air France Stefan Gumuseli came to say goodbye. Descôtes said Tegel was part of a common history that united Berlin and France.
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“The airport was a gateway to the world for us Berliners,” said Müller, who described today as a historic day. “It’s a day full of emotions and memories, and it’s all close to our hearts,” he said. Müller added that from the gateway to the world, Tegel will become a gateway for scientists from all over the world. The area should become a science and technology and industrial park in the future.
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Tegel is of nostalgic importance to the inhabitants of the metropolis, because after the post-war division of the city, it served as the main air hub of West Berlin. In addition, the creation of Tegel is connected with the blockade of the city and the importance of this airport increased even more after the closure of Tempelhof, which was another airport in the former western sector of the metropolis.
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The head of Berlin airports, Engelbert Lütke Daldrup, said today that Tegel had always stopped air service for the metropolis. “Under normal circumstances, it has a capacity of ten million passengers a year. In 2019, however, 24.2 million passengers were handled here, “he said. “Tegel endured it, and Tegel always did us a good service,” Daldrup said.
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Despite the importance of Tegel, the city could not say goodbye to the airport as it had imagined due to the covid-19 pandemic. Events for the public were not planned and the public did not even get to the observation terrace today, which was reserved for journalists and invited guests. In addition, for hygienic reasons, access to the terrace was restricted in order to maintain a distance between them. But people watched the departure from various places in the metropolis, such as the arrival at the airport or from the beaches of the lake, which lie on the runway.
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There are also ubiquitous posters with the words Danke TXL in Berlin. The acronym TXL is the International Air Transport Association (IATA) code for Tegel.
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Although Tegel is now considered closed, he will remain in flight reserve for another six months. The permit to operate here will formally expire on May 4, 2021. Today, however, the lights on Tegel are symbolically switched off.
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