Goodbye Tegel Airport!

"To Otto-Lilienthal Airport please," isn't something a Berliner would ever say. That might be its official name since 1988, but it's simply known as Tegel, after the district it's located in. For 46 years it was Berlin's gateway to the world. As the capital's new airport, BER, finally opens after an 8-year delay, the reliable but chronically congested airport in Berlin's north has served its time.

Tegel is considered an icon of airport architecture. Designed in 1965 by the then still unknown architects Gerkan, Marg & Partners (gmp), it was designed for maximum service. In order to enable fast, orderly handling, they arranged the gates around a hexagon. The hexagon became the trademark of Tegel, which was soon considered the most modern airport in the world.

Passing through the main hall with its few stores was quick. From here the passengers were distributed to the gates which were located in a hexagon. With exactly two possibilities: To the left or to the right. Getting lost was impossible. Over the years, four more terminals were added to cope with the increasing number of passengers. But to no avail: Tegel was still bursting at the seams.

Tegel was needed and intensively used as an international airport. After Frankfurt, Munich and Düsseldorf, Tegel rose to become the fourth most important airport in Germany. It was designed to handle around three million passengers a year. In the end it handled 24 million. Queuing for check-in or for baggage collection became the norm. Service? Not really!

Without the Cold War, Tegel would probably not exist. During the Soviet blockade of West Berlin in 1948-49, the Allies supplied the population via an airlift. This soldier celebrates the 100,000th flight. The airports Tempelhof and Gatow were soon no longer sufficient. Thus, starting in August 1948, another runway was built in the French sector of Tegel — in just 90 days. Tegel was born.

On January 2, 1960, Tegel began service. In order to fly to West Berlin, flights had to pass over former East Germany. Air corridors were set up specifically for this purpose. A gateway to the world opened up for West Berliners. New York, Paris and London were suddenly very close. On June 30, 1967, flight attendants of the French airline Air France already welcomed the 25 millionth passenger.

During the division of Germany, only airlines of the Western Allied occupying powers were allowed to fly to and from West Berlin. This special status did not end until German reunification in 1990, when Deutsche Lufthansa was also able to fly to Berlin for the first time. Another historic moment.

In addition to the civilian flights, there were also military planes that kept landing there too, but exclusively for state guests and members of the federal government. The visit of the 35th American President John F. Kennedy in June 1963 remains legendary. He was welcomed by the people of Berlin with indescribable jubilation and conquered their hearts with his statement: "Ich bin ein Berliner."

When state guests such as British Queen Elizabeth II arrived, protocol was essential. Red carpet, a Bundeswehr guard of honor and a 21-shot salute. The Queen was often a guest in Tegel. She visited Berlin seven times; her last state visit was in 2015. Her son Charles, her grandchildren William and Harry and Princess Diana also made their way across the red carpet here.

All of Germany watched the return of the German national soccer team in 2014 after its World Cup victory in Brazil. Fans thronged to the visitors' terrace. The team's arriving plane was greeted by the airport fire department with water fountains — and of course the red carpet was rolled out for the national team too.

Tegel was greatly criticized — too full, too loud, too unfriendly, no subway connection and similar complaints. Nevertheless in a 2017 referendum, a majority of Berliners voted to continue operating the airport alongside the new BER. Without success. BER opens and Tegel closes, that's the deal. But the Berliners will keep the memory of TXL alive.

A new era will begin for Tegel in November 2020. It has nothing to do with flying. There are other plans for the airport site, which is only a 30-minute drive away from the city center. A residential area for 10,000 people is to be built here, along with a research and industrial park and a university campus. The future in Tegel can now begin.