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boss Engelbert Lütke Daldrup announced that the application for temporary exemption from the operating obligation was withdrawn.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 "zigzag course"
Nevertheless, a lot will change in Tegel, because the distance rules against Corona continue to apply and must also be implemented there. These required significantly more space and also slowed down some processes at the airports, especially at the security controls, emphasizes the FBB. "Especially during peak times, when many planes take off or land almost simultaneously, the passengers must therefore soon be distributed to as many terminal areas as possible."

The Berlin FDP leader Sebastian Czaja sharply criticizes the “zigzag course” of the FBB in the Tegel case. "The postponement of the closure is just postponed chaos," he says in an interview with Aviation.Direct. In 2017, Berliners voted with a large majority in a referendum that the Senate should try everything to keep the City Airport open even after the BER opening despite a different planning approval notice - but the latter decided to ignore the vote of the voters. Czaja is now relying on FBB: “Hopefully she will find her senses in time. Because when the lights go out in Tegel, all of Berlin loses its radiance. & Qu