Auf Wiedersehen Tegel!
- Tomasz Kozakowski
- 10 lis 2020
- 2 minut(y) czytania
Zaktualizowano: 22 lut 2023
There are quite a few airports around the world that bring a lot of memories. Berlin Tegel (TXL/EDDT) is definitely one of them. The airport got its unique history, mainly associated with postwar history of the city. Originally French air base, completed in November 1948, got its status of West Berlin’s major airport in the 70ties with the elevation of a new terminal and transfer of US operations from Tempelhof (THF/EDDI). Germany’s reunification was another milestone in its history, as many airlines preferred Tegel over Schönefeld (SXF/EDDB – airport originally serving East Berlin and being the hub for GDR’s Interflug) due to relatively short distance to Berlin downtown and therefore decided to move operations there. Finally, within recent years the airport got a good injection of passenger flow with a development of Air Berlin that used to have a hub there (unlike Lufthansa which considers Berlin rather as a focus city than a hub) and final closure of Tempelhof airport.
Rapid increase of the air traffic forced Berlin authorities to look for a replacement of fairly congested Tegel. Finally, a new location has been chosen on grounds of former Schönefeld airport and the construction of a new terminal and runways was officially launched in September 2006. The new airport got the official name Berlin Brandenburg Willy Brandt (after former West Berlin mayor and West German chancellor) and IATA code BER was assigned to it (ICAO code EDDB was inherited from Schönefeld). Well, honestly speaking this wasn’t the fastest growing construction of recent years. Many economic and technical problems had to be solved before 14 years long construction was finally completed in late 2020. The new airport was officially opened on October 31st, 2020 and all commercial traffic was moved there from Tegel over the next weekend. Thus, even though Tegel still remains operational, apart from VIP traffic, it won’t be used for regular passengers anymore.
I have to admit that I shall be always thinking about Tegel with a bit of nostalgy – not only because of its history, but mainly because of its spotting capabilities. I had a chance to visit the airport several times and always enjoyed it observation deck providing a great view to traffic at both parallel runways. Furthermore, I also liked some other spots near the end of the runway and Argentinian steak house close to rwy 26L. There is a small selection of my photos from Tegel below, while now it seems to be the best time to say Good Bye, Tschüss, und Auf Wiedersehen!
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