Falling traffic and mounting losses have prompted management at Berlin's airport authority to propose closing the city's Tempelhof airport by the end of October 2004.
A final decision will be taken in the spring. Eventually, with the building of Berlin Brandenburg International Airport at the site of Schonefeld airport, Tegel will also be closed. Brandenburg is due to open in 2010 at the earliest.
Although the closest to the city centre of all the Berlin airports, Tempelhof handled only 613,000 passengers in 2002, a 20% decline over 2001, and numbers fell by a further 26% during the first 10 months of this year. Some 12 airlines operate primarily regional services from Tempelhof, and they would likely transfer to Schonefeld, where incentive packages are being offered.
Source: Airline Business