Last flight has departed Berlin-Tegel

On 8 November the last flight departed Berlin-Tegel, ending 72 years of service to Germany's capital. The last flight was carried out by Air France A320 F-GKXP, which left Tegel for Paris-Charles de Gaulle as AF1235 at 15:39. It got a water-salute from the airport fire brigade, as well as a fly-by of three Bundespolizei helicopters.

Berlin-Tegel started out as a rocket test-site in 1930 and became an airport in 1948 when a runway was constructed during the Soviet blockade of Berlin. On 5 November 1948 the first aircraft landed at Tegel and on 1 December it was officially opened as the second West-Berlin airport, next to Tempelhof. It took, however, until 2 January 1960 to scheduled flights to start using Tegel.

The airport was very well known for its hexagon-shaped terminal and was originally scheduled to close on 3 June 2012 when the new Berlin-Brandenburg was to open. As we all know, Brandenburg Airport was severely delayed and was opened last week, which meant the closure of Tegel was also postponed until today.

Photo by Berlin Airport