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Many West Berliners loved the legendary hexagon: Tegel was not just a symbol of their freedom. But also an airport that will never exist again.
An airport with automatic access: the ingenious 1974 hexagon made Berlin-Tegel Airport famous all over the world.
Photo: Ralf Hirschberger (DPA / Keystone)
If you drove to Tegel airport, you landed directly in the 1970s. The concrete architecture, the plastic, the colors, all the worn charm came from another era. You got out of the taxi, took a few steps towards the door, a few more through the too tight control, then you were almost in front of the plane door. And he left. There was no shorter path anywhere.
In the waiting room, which was also too narrow, if you were lucky, one stall sold coffee and sausages, another sold some perfumes, cigarettes, and two types of whiskey. At a time when airports have long been giant shopping centers with attached flight operations, Tegel was not just a relic, but a statement: an anti-capitalist provocation.
Extremely short distances: there was no more than 30 meters between the taxi rank and the Tegel exit gate.
Photo: Stefan Zeitz (Imago Images)
And then this airport was practically in the middle of the city. From Kurfürstendamm you were there in 15 minutes. If you forgot something important, you could still quickly go home and still catch your flight. If the taxis went on strike or if the entrance was blocked by protesters, he just walked. In the terminal, on the contrary, you could not get lost: once everywhere, you returned to the place you came from.
This terminal at all! An ingenious hexagon in the center of a well-composed drive-in airport. Meinhard von Gerkan and Volkwin Marg designed the icon as soon as they finished their studies. Your Hexagon was launched in 1974 and has remained almost in its original condition ever since. Not just out of gratitude: when a new airport was planned in the capital after reunification, the one that just opened after an endless series of bankruptcies Berlin-Brandenburg Airport – no longer invested in Tegel.
Heirloom from the 1970s: Some shops at the airport weren’t just closed since the corona pandemic.
Photo: Stefan Zeitz (Imago Images)
Over time, the airport developed typical Berlin filth and looked like a dilapidated provincial airport that was about to burst. Originally built for 2.5 million passengers a year, it handled almost ten times as much last year. Luggage belts squeaked and often stood still, bathrooms stank, and sockets were searched for a long time. In the ranking of European passengers, Tegel used to occupy one of the last places. But Berliners loved the airport. Also because he was somehow indestructible like her.
The myth arose in 1948 when the Soviets wanted to starve the western part of the divided city and the Allies ensured its survival with an airlift. In 90 days they built what was then the longest runway in Europe at Tegel. From then on, the place was a symbol of West Berlin’s desire for freedom. A quarter century later, the hexagon turned it into a modern airport, and opened a door to the world for the Cold War front-line city, which was locked up by the GDR.
If you ask Berliners, they will want to keep Tegel open. But that is not even legally possible.
With the planning of the BER capital city in Schönefeld, Brandenburg, the days of the last Berlin Tempelhof and Tegel airfields were numbered. Tempelhof closed in 2008, Tegel should close in 2011, at the same time as the opening of BER. Its closure was ultimately the price of the new building. Mainly for noise protection reasons, Tegel should not continue to operate today. Even if a referendum in 2017 showed that the majority of Berliners would want it.
This spring, the corona pandemic almost forced an abrupt end. Instead of 100,000 passengers, some days only 250 were handled. The operation until November no longer seemed worthwhile, especially since the old GDR airport was still open in Schönefeld. But then traffic briefly resumed and Tegel stayed up for a final few months of grace.
The last departure is approaching: on Sunday afternoon, an Air France plane to Paris will be the last to take off.
Photo: Christophe Gateau (DPA, Keystone)
On Sunday, however, the irrevocable end is now: at 3 pm, the last Air France flight to Paris will begin; the French also flew the first civil passenger flight to Tegel in 1960. The farewell folk festival is canceled, as the airport should have after the trial of many Berliners. The epidemic currently does not allow these types of festivities.
And so? Step by step, a new district is emerging from the 460-hectare site in Tegel. A technical school with 2,500 students is moving into the hexagon. A new industrial and research park will be built around this nucleus, developing “urban technologies”. 1000 companies want to settle here, with 20,000 employees. There are also 5,000 ecologically exemplary and affordable apartments. And there will be rest in heaven. For the first time in more than 70 years.
