Does anyone know the definitive date on the opening of the new Berlin Brandenburg Airport? What will the new airport code be? Will Tegel and Schoenfeld close right away as promised once it's operational? I see Lufthansa is going to have new L.A. to Berlin and Atlanta to Berlin Brandenburg non-stop flights.
Also, we thought it was really cool that the old Templehof Airport was turned into Berlin's largest park for bike riding, walking, sports fields, etc. All 990 plus acres, that in 1948 and 1949, was the site of the Berlin Airlift during the Soviets supply blockade. Any ideas on what they are going to do with all the old empty terminal buildings? Thanks
Posted by
Sammamish, WA
403 posts
I don't think the Germans have the answers to your questions! The latest news says the airport won't open before March, 2013. It is expected that Tegel will close. The new airport assumes some of the property of Schonefeld, so in some ways it's more like a merger. But, the old Schonefeld terminals will close and be redeveloped.
I have a flight out of Berlin Brandenburg scheduled for July 1 and KLM has not changed the departure data yet. Wondering whether I will fly out of Tegel or get cancelled. Ack!
Posted by
Frankfurt am Main, Germany
2779 posts
At the moment the communicated "definitive" opening date is 17 March 2013. The new airport code is the existing code for all Berlin airports, BER. TXL and SXF will eventually disappear. It's Air Berlin who fly from LAX to BER and they said they will start the service even now the airport won't open until next year. So there will be LAX to TXL nonstop from June. TXL airport will be demolished as it's right in the middle of commercial and residential housing areas. SXF is located on the Northern end of the new BER airport and it will be converted into a government air terminal. THF already is just a huge bike/skater park and the old terminal building is used for events, conventions etc.
Posted by
Berlin, Germany
337 posts
" TXL airport will be demolished as it's right in the middle of commercial and residential housing areas. " The fate of the area of the Tegel airport hasn't been decided yet, one difficulty (apart from the fact that the area is a patchwork of federal and city owned land) is that it is so far apart from "commercial and residential housing areas": To the north and west is the Jungfernheide forest, to the south are garden plots and the Hohenzollern canal, and most of the eastern edge borders against army barracks. The only part that is really connected to the "urban" city is the small triangle east of the highway tunnel. Pretty much all of the proposals I've seen would give at least the north-western quarter back to the forest and would urbanize the eastern triangle after getting rid of that piece of autobahn that separates it from the Schuhmacher-Platz area.
Some of the proposals want to keep the hexagonal terminal buildings with a new purpose (education or research seem to be popular).
Posted by
Redmond, WA
295 posts
Angela (above), we have 5 flights (different days, going to and fro) coming in and out of Berlin this summer. No worry about them being cancelled - they are making money, and there are two airports for them to choose from.
Posted by
Sammamish, WA
403 posts
Dennis,
Right you are. I called KLM and confirmed that we are now flying out of Tegel.
Posted by
Sammamish, WA
403 posts
Wanted to follow up on my replies to this thread. We flew out of Tegel 4 days ago and I just want to confirm that it is indeed functioning. Other than looking a bit worse for the wear, all operations, shops, car rental, etc. are completely normal. As near as I could tell, nothing is changed or closed for the time being, which makes sense since the opening for Brandenburg is at least 9 months away.