Berlin’s main airport, Tegel International (TXL), will close for at least two months as of 1 June, with reports suggesting it could be haemorrhaging €1 million per day.
Berlin mayor Michael Müller told public broadcaster rbb that “it makes no sense to keep two facilities open” in the midst of the crisis.
In the meantime, all flights and hub operations will be diverted to Berlin’s Schönefeld Airport (SXF).
Located in the city’s north-west, Tegel has been slated for permanent closure for almost a decade. The historic facility, which played a vital role during the Berlin Airlift, was due to be replaced by the federal government’s newly-constructed Berlin Brandenburg (BER) airport in 2011.
However, the BER development project has been hampered by inefficiencies, budget blowouts, and safety issues that have seen this date pushed back over nine years.
After state-controlled parent company Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg (FBB) voted in favour of Tegel’s ‘temporary’ closure last week, the decision was swiftly ratified by Germany’s Federal Aviation Office.
However, given reassurances from the FBB and federal authorities that BER is on track to open on schedule on 31 October, many are speculating that Tegel may be closing its doors for good.
“All the experts tell me there are no shortcomings at BER Airport we can’t fix,” said Engelbert Lütke Daldrup, head of the BER construction committee. “I am convinced that BER will be put into operation in October 2020.”
If Daldrup’s predictions prove true, TXL may remain shuttered indefinitely. With all flights and airline operations shifting to SXF, which borders the newly-constructed BER in Berlin’s south-east, it may prove logistically simpler to hold off transferring these functions again until BER is officially opened.
Local outlets including the Berliner Morgenpost have reported that the FBB’s supervisory board is in favour of a prompt closure, although the federal government has expressed reservations.
However, given previous delays to BER it is also not clear whether the grand opening will go ahead as scheduled. In 2018, one Lufthansa executive predicted the airport would never open.
“My prognosis: the thing will be torn down and built anew,” said Thorsten Dirks, head of the Eurowings subsidiary.
