About
Air Travel
Berlin has three airports, but that’s not enough to make the city a proper hub for air travel. Tegel, Schönefeld and Tempelhof airports are – even taken together – too small and inefficient, so Berlin, along with the neighbouring state Brandenburg, is building a new facility scheduled to open in 2011.
In order to ensure Berlin-Brandenburg International (BBI) is a moneymaker, Berlin’s three airports will probably be whittled down to two by the end of 2008. Tempelhof, with its unique architecture and auspicious history during the Berlin Airlift, is scheduled to shut by late 2008; however, local residents are fighting to keep it open for business flights.
Tegel, the city’s main airport for international flights, will continue operations until Schönefeld, once East Berlin’s small air terminal, can be expanded into BBI. Although Berlin is fine for European connections, it’s terrible for transcontinental flights. This is essentially the city’s fault for allowing the construction of a new airport with decent capacity to take so long after reunification. First contractors took part in a dubious bidding process and then the city got bogged down in a legal battle with residents near Schönefeld opposed to the expansion. Once BBI finally got the go-ahead, German national carrier Lufthansa had made Munich its second major hub after Frankfurt, meaning less direct international connections for Berliners. Some foreign airlines have sprung into the breach and Continental and Delta now fly to New York, but flights to North America and Asia remain limited. The most frequent flights in and out of Berlin are almost hourly ones to Frankfurt, Germany’s financial centre, and Cologne-Bonn, where many government bureaucrats still work. However, Germany’s second-biggest carrier, Air Berlin, has big international expansion plans.
In order to ensure Berlin-Brandenburg International (BBI) is a moneymaker, Berlin’s three airports will probably be whittled down to two by the end of 2008. Tempelhof, with its unique architecture and auspicious history during the Berlin Airlift, is scheduled to shut by late 2008; however, local residents are fighting to keep it open for business flights.
Tegel, the city’s main airport for international flights, will continue operations until Schönefeld, once East Berlin’s small air terminal, can be expanded into BBI. Although Berlin is fine for European connections, it’s terrible for transcontinental flights. This is essentially the city’s fault for allowing the construction of a new airport with decent capacity to take so long after reunification. First contractors took part in a dubious bidding process and then the city got bogged down in a legal battle with residents near Schönefeld opposed to the expansion. Once BBI finally got the go-ahead, German national carrier Lufthansa had made Munich its second major hub after Frankfurt, meaning less direct international connections for Berliners. Some foreign airlines have sprung into the breach and Continental and Delta now fly to New York, but flights to North America and Asia remain limited. The most frequent flights in and out of Berlin are almost hourly ones to Frankfurt, Germany’s financial centre, and Cologne-Bonn, where many government bureaucrats still work. However, Germany’s second-biggest carrier, Air Berlin, has big international expansion plans.
