Berlin airport about to open - really!
Berlin's new airport (BER) will finally go into operation tomorrow, 31.10.2020, thus ending an odyssey that began in 1996. At the beginning, it was decided to extend the already existing Schönefeld (SXF) airport and then close down the Tegel (TXL) and Tempelhof (THF) locations within the city centre.
After construction began in 2006, the initial plan to open the airport on 30 November 2011 could not be met. Other dates for the opening were postponed for a variety of reasons, one of which (30.6.2020) with barely a month's notice. The cargo centre was opened in August 2013.
While the iconic THF was closed exactly twelve years ago, TXL will cease operations on 8 November 2020. The last guest will be Air France, just as it was the first commercial airline to land at this airport, which was used for civilian traffic from 1960, in the former French sector of the divided city. (ah)