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Berlin Tegel to officially lose its airport status: What’s next for the former flight hub?

Many proclaimed that an era ended in Berlin when Tegel Airport ceased flights six months ago. Yet on Wednesday at midnight, operations are set to officially end.

Published: 4 May 2021 11:15 CEST
Berlin Tegel to officially lose its airport status: What's next for the former flight hub?
A couple takes a selfie at the iconic airport shortly before its last flight on November 5th. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Christoph Soeder

That’s when the former airport’s operating permit for takeoffs and landings officially expire, leaving the possibility open to new building plans at the former flight hub in the northwest of the capital. 

For half a year, pilots could still switch to Tegel Airport if anything went wrong at the new Berlin Brandenburg (BER) Airport, which opened after nine years of delays on October 31st. 

READ ALSO: What you need to know about Berlin’s ‘cursed’ new BER airport

Yet there have been no serious problems at BER so far – especially since the slump in passenger numbers as a result of the Covid crisis has meant that the much-anticipated new airport has not yet been fully put to the test. 

Tegel has not had to be used in recent months for flights. Yet it as served as one of six Berlin vaccination centres over the last few months.

“As of May 5th, the site is no longer an airport, even in the legal sense,” announced the operator, the Airport Association of Berlin-Brandenburg (FBB). 

On Tuesday, FBB already plans to hand over the first buildings to the state of Berlin.

The last passenger aircraft, an Air France plane bound for Paris, already took off from Tegel on November 8th, and flight operations have been suspended since then.

READ ALSO: Berlin’s Tegel airport closes following last flight to Paris

What’s next for Tegel?

The site and buildings are now to be gradually handed over to the state of Berlin in the months leading up until August. Then the state-owned Tegel Projekt GmbH will take care of the further development of the site.

The Beuth University of Applied Sciences is to move into the iconic main terminal of the former airport.

Tegel Projekt GmbH also plans to build around 5,000 new timber apartments, as well as a technology and industrial park.

READ ALSO: These are the plans for affordable (and sustainable) housing at Berlin’s former Tegel airport

Through an official agreement with the city, however, for 2.5 years the airport association will still be responsible for handling so-called contaminated sites in the area: pollutants in the soil or potential former WWII bombs that must be removed if necessary.

“So far, no need for action has arisen,” FBB announced.

The airport’s iconic retro design that Berliners know today comes from architects Meinhard von Gerkan and Volkwin Marg. Construction began in 1970, and the airport was inaugurated four years later. 

Since then, the number of passengers sharply rose each year up until the coronavirus crisis, and reached dimensions that the airport, small by international standards, could not handle anymore.

Of the approximately 36 million passengers in Berlin in 2019, around 24 million travelled via Tegel.

Vocabulary

operations – (der) Betrieb

landings – (die) Landungen

opened – eröffnet

pollutants/contaminants – (die) Schadstoffe

We’re aiming to help our readers improve their German by translating vocabulary from some of our news stories. Did you find this article useful? Let us know.

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HEALTH

Could there be a new wave of Covid-19 in Germany this autumn?

It’s back again: amid sinking temperatures, the incidence of Covid-19 has been slowly rising in Germany. But is this enough to merit worrying about the virus?

Published: 20 September 2023 12:05 CEST
Updated: 20 September 2023 22:22 CEST
Could there be a new wave of Covid-19 in Germany this autumn?

More people donning face masks in supermarkets, friends cancelling plans last minute due to getting sick with Covid-19. We might have seen some of those familiar reminders recently that the coronavirus is still around, but could there really be a resurgence of the virus like we experienced during the pandemic years?

According to virologists, the answer seems to be ‘maybe’: since July, the number of people newly infected with Covid-19 has been slowly rising from a very low level.

According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), nine people per 100,000 inhabitants became newly infected in Germany last week. A year ago, there were only around 270 reported cases.

Various Corona variants are currently on the loose in the country. According to the RKI,  the EG.5 (also called Eris) and XBB.1.16 lines were each detected in the week ending September 3rd with a share of just under 23 percent. 

The highly mutated variant BA.2.86 (Pirola), which is currently under observation by the World Health Organisation (WHO), also arrived in the country this week, according to RKI. 

High number of unreported case

The RKI epidemiologists also warned about a high number of unreported cases since hardly any testing is done. They pointed out that almost half of all registered sewage treatment plants report an increasing viral load in wastewater tests.

The number of hospital admissions has also increased slightly, but are still a far cry from the occupation rate amid the pandemic. Last week it was two per 100,000 inhabitants. In the intensive care units, only 1.2 percent of all beds are occupied by Covid-19 patients.

Still, a good three-quarters (76.4 percent) of people in Germany have been vaccinated at least twice and thus have basic immunity, reported RKI. 

Since Monday, doctors’ offices have been vaccinating with the adapted vaccine from Biontech/Pfizer, available to anyone over 12 years old, with a vaccine for small children set to be released the following week and one for those between 5 and 11 to come out October 2nd.

But Health Minister Karl Lauterbach has so far only recommended that people over 60 and those with pre-existing conditions get vaccinated.

READ ALSO: EXPLAINED: Who should get a Covid jab this autumn in Germany?

“The pandemic is over, the virus remains,” he said. “We cannot predict the course of coming waves of corona, but it is clear that older people and people with pre-existing conditions remain at higher risk of becoming severely ill from Covid-19”

The RKI also recommended that people with a cold voluntarily wear a mask. Anyone exhibiting cough, cold, sore throat or other symptoms of a respiratory illness should voluntarily stay at home for three to five days and take regular corona self-tests. 

However, further measures such as contact restrictions are not necessary, he said.

One of many diseases

As of this autumn, Covid-19 could be one of many respiratory diseases. As with influenza, there are no longer absolute infection figures for coronavirus.

Saarbrücken pharmacist Thorsten Lehr told German broadcaster ZDF that self-protection through vaccinations, wearing a mask and getting tested when symptoms appear are prerequisites for surviving the Covid autumn well. 

Only a new, more aggressive mutation could completely turn the game around, he added.

On April 7th of this year, Germany removed the last of its over two-year long coronavirus restrictions, including mask-wearing in some public places.

READ ALSO: German doctors recommend Covid-19 self-tests amid new variant

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