Operating company FBB withdrew the application for early closure. The airport's capacity will now be required until the end of October 2020.
Berlin-Tegel Airport will not close as planned due to the corona-related collapse in passenger numbers in mid-June. The airport boss Engelbert Lütke Daldrup announced that the application for temporary exemption from the operating obligation was withdrawn. Tegel was originally supposed to close on June 15 through August; The end of operations is now linked to the start of BER on October 31, as planned.
After many European countries reopen their borders and many airlines want to restart operations in the current month, the airport operator FBB expects the numbers to go up at both existing airports (Tegel and Schönefeld). The number of daily passengers is expected to more than double in June from around 3000, according to FBB. Up to 20.000 passengers are expected at the end of July.
Opposition criticizes “zig-zag course”
Nevertheless, some things will change in Tegel, because the social distancing rules against Corona still apply and must be implemented there too. These require significantly more space and also slow down some processes at the airports, especially at the security checkpoints, the FBB emphasizes. "Particularly during peak times, when many planes take off or land almost simultaneously, passengers will soon have to be distributed across as many terminal areas as possible."
Berlin FDP leader Sebastian Czaja sharply criticises the FBB's "zig-zag course" in the Tegel case. "The postponement of the closure is just chaos postponed," he said in an interview with Aviation.Direct. In a 2017 referendum, Berliners voted by a large majority that the Senate should do everything it can to keep the city airport open after the BER opening, despite a planning approval decision to the contrary - but the Senate decided to ignore the voters' vote. Czaja is now counting on the FBB: "Hopefully they will come to their senses in time. Because if the lights go out in Tegel, the whole of Berlin will lose its appeal."
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