Berlin's Tegel Airport closes for good

Berlin's Tegel Airport (TXL for short), which dates back to the Cold War and was much loved by the Berliners, has closed its doors yesterday after the last flight took off.

Just one day away from the 31st anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Tegel International Airport in Berlin closed down for good after the take-off of one last Air France flight directed to Paris. Tegel closes just one week after the inauguration, nine years late, of the new Willy Brandt Berlin airport.

"I'll put it bluntly: it's a day in which many people's hearts will bleed," the city's mayor Michael Müller commented, "Tegel was the gateway to the world for us Berliners," he added.

According to the plans of the municipality of Berlin,  the construction of a new district will take place around the area where the airport was located offering housing opportunities to over 10,000 people. While the terminal itself, considered a historical monument, will house an urban development centre of the Beuth University of Applied Sciences.

Originally built to handle 2.5 million passengers a year, Tegel exceeded 20 million in 2014 and in recent years was under the spotlights due to its bad reputation for crowding, delays and loss of luggage.