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The Week in Germany: Current Affairs February 23, 2007 Home of the Historic Berlin Airlift Set to Close in 2008
Berlin's historic Tempelhof airport - the main landing site of the 1948/49
Berlin
Airlift - will be shut down next year. As recently reported by Deutsche
Welle, a Berlin court has thrown out objections from 13 companies and
airlines that use Tempelhof. The court ruled that the airport will close
in October 2008. The decision finally draws a line under a long debate on Tempelhof's
future use. The airlines and companies that use the historic airstrip
wanted city authorities to keep the airport open until work is completed
on a new international airport, the Berlin-Brandenburg International Airport
(BBI) in the city's eastern Schönefeld district. BBI is scheduled
to be finished by 2011. Meanwhile, according to a report on Friday in the Berliner
Morgenpost, Deutsche Bahn chief Hartmut Mehdorn has cited the benefits
of having an airport in the heart of the city and suggested that DB, the
German National Railways, could take over Tempelhof in a special arrangement
that would not conflict with the new BBI Airport. DB wants to cooperate
with Estée Lauder Chairman Fred Langhammer, a German-American,
and the US cosmetics' company's heir Ronald S. Lauder in operating a niche
business flight market at Tempelhof. Using only one runway for takeoffs
and one for landings, the two investors want to turn the site into a health
and conference center with a hotel. Tempelhof was first officially designated as an airport in 1923, and
Lufthansa was founded at Tempelhof in 1926. An old terminal constructed
in 1927 was replaced by a new terminal building in 1934. In 1975 Tempelhof
was largely replaced by Tegel Airport, which lies further outside of the
city. As described by online encyclopedia Wikipedia,
Tempelhof's halls and the neighbouring buildings, intended to become "the
gateway to Europe", are still known as the largest built entities
worldwide, and have been described by British architect Sir Norman Foster
as "the mother of all airports". (TWIG/DW-WORLD) Links:
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