Berlin, DE 🇩🇪 Closed Airport
DE-0876
-
122 ft
DE-BE
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Loading...GPS Code: Not available
Local Code: Not available
Location: 52.5597° N, 13.2877° E
Continent: EU
Type: Closed Airport
Keywords: TXL EDDT Otto Lilienthal
Loading weather data...
| Designation | Length | Width | Surface | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
08L/26R |
9918 ft | 150 ft | Asphalt | Closed |
08R/26L |
7966 ft | 150 ft | asphalt | Closed |
| Type | Description | Frequency |
|---|---|---|
| AFIS | BERLIN INFO | 132.65 MHz |
| APP | BERLIN ARR | 119.625 MHz |
| ATIS | ATIS | 112.3 MHz |
| ATIS | ATIS | 125.9 MHz |
| DEP | BERLIN DEP | 120.625 MHz |
| DIR | BERLIN DIRECTOR | 136.1 MHz |
| GND | GND | 121.925 MHz |
| RMP | BERLIN MIL | 136.0 MHz |
| TWR | TWR | 124.525 MHz |
The last commercial flight from Berlin-Tegel Airport departed on November 8, 2020. The airport was officially and legally decommissioned on May 4, 2021, when its operating license was permanently revoked.
The airport was closed as part of a long-term city planning strategy to consolidate all of Berlin's air traffic into a single, modern hub. Its closure coincided with the opening of the new Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER) on October 31, 2020. Tegel was operating far beyond its designed capacity, was outdated, and its location within the city limits made expansion impossible and created significant noise pollution for residents. The closure was a planned replacement, not due to economic failure or a specific incident.
The former airport site is currently undergoing a massive urban redevelopment project. The area is being transformed into two main districts:
1. **Urban Tech Republic:** The former terminal buildings and surrounding area are being converted into a research and industrial park for companies, startups, and scientific institutions focused on developing technologies for future cities. The main terminal will house the Berliner Hochschule fĂĽr Technik (Beuth University of Applied Sciences).
2. **Schumacher Quartier:** An adjacent area is being developed into a new, sustainable residential district with over 5,000 apartments, schools, and social infrastructure.
The former runways and open airfield spaces are being repurposed into a large public park and nature conservation area. In the interim period after closure, parts of the facility were temporarily used as a COVID-19 vaccination center and an arrival center for Ukrainian refugees.
Berlin-Tegel (former IATA: TXL, ICAO: EDDT) was the primary international airport for West Berlin during the Cold War and for the reunified city until its closure. Its history is deeply tied to the Cold War. The airport was constructed in just 90 days by French and American forces with German laborers during the Berlin Blockade of 1948-49 to create another vital air corridor for the Berlin Airlift. During the division of Germany, due to the Four Power Agreement, only airlines from the Allied nations (USA, UK, and France) were permitted to fly into Tegel. It became famous for its distinctive hexagonal main terminal (Terminal A), which opened in 1974. This design was celebrated for its efficiency, allowing for extremely short walking distances from a taxi to the aircraft gate. After German reunification in 1990, it became the busiest airport in Berlin, serving as a hub for airlines like Air Berlin and handling over 24 million passengers in its final full year of operation, despite being originally designed for only 2.5 million per year.
There are zero prospects for reopening Berlin-Tegel as an airport. The closure is permanent and irreversible. The site has been officially decommissioned, and the large-scale redevelopment projects are already in progress. While a non-binding public referendum in 2017 resulted in a majority vote to keep Tegel open, the Berlin government proceeded with the long-standing plan to close it upon the commissioning of the new Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER).
Berlin Tegel "Otto Lilienthal" Airport was the primary international airport of Berlin, the federal capital of Germany. The airport was named after aviation pioneer Otto Lilienthal and was the fourth busiest airport in Germany, with over 24 million passengers in 2019. In 2016, Tegel handled over 60% of all airline passenger traffic in Berlin. The airport served as a base for Eurowings, Ryanair as well as easyJet. It featured flights to several European metropolitan and leisure destinations as well as some intercontinental routes. It was situated in Tegel, a section of the northern borough of Reinickendorf, eight kilometres northwest of the city centre of Berlin. Tegel Airport was notable for its hexagonal main terminal building around an open square, which made walking distances as short as 30 m from the aircraft to the terminal exit.
TXL saw its last flight on 8 November 2020 after all traffic had been transferred gradually to the new Berlin Brandenburg Airport until that date. It was legally decommissioned as an airfield after a mandatory transitional period on 4 May 2021. All government flights were also relocated to the new airport with the exception of helicopter operations which will stay at a separate area on the northern side of Tegel Airport until 2029.
The airport's grounds are due to be redeveloped into a new city quarter dedicated to scientific and industrial research named Urban Tech Republic which is to retain the airport's main building and tower as a repurposed landmark.
TXL saw its last flight on 8 November 2020 after all traffic had been transferred gradually to the new Berlin Brandenburg Airport until this date. It has been legally decommissioned as an airfield after a mandatory transitional period on 4 May 2021. All government flights were also relocated to the new airport with the exception of helicopter operations which will stay at a separate area on the northern side of Tegel Airport until 2029.
If flew in again this spring. Yes, it's still here. The airport is a bit shabby and run-down, but you can't beat it for convenience—just a quick short distance away from the centre of the city.
I landed at Tegel this week, so clearly it's still open, despite the comment I left 7 1/2 years ago. As the Wikipedia article mentions, walking distances are extremely short — in less than 5 minutes, I was off the plane and in a cab.
A taxi to my hotel near the Heinrich-Heine Straße U-Bahn station was €35, which is a bit pricey. I have since discovered that there is an express bus "TXL" that takes 41 minutes from Alexanderplatz to Tegel (or vice versa). Details here: http://www.bvg.de/index.php/en/17131/name/JetExpressBus+TXL.html
Along with Berlin-Tempelhof (THF), Tegel is scheduled to be replaced by an expanded Berlin-Schönefeld (SXF -- to be renamed "Berlin-Brandenburg International" around 2011). Tegel and Tempelhof are actually in Berlin, while Schönefeld is further out of town, in the former East Germany.