Tempelhof Airport On Chopping Block
ANN reported last
December on the bleak future looming for Berlin's historic
Tempelhof Airport. In a situation reminiscent of Mayor Richard
Daley’s closure of Chicago’s Meigs Field in
March 2003, Berlin city leaders have moved forward
with plans to close the city’s historic downtown airport as
early as October 31, 2008.
It's a bitter sense of deja vu for the Aircraft Owners and
Pilots Association. Wounds from Mayor Daley's (illegal) assault on Meigs run
deep... and the group doesn't want to see it happen again, anywhere
in the world. And while it's unlikely the city will move in
unannounced with bulldozers to close Tempelhof, there are
uncomfortable similarities.
As ANN reported, the Berlin
government, under mayor Klaus Wowereit, secured court approval in
December to move forward with a plan to do away with Tempelhof and
consolidate all airline operations at Berlin’s
Schönefeld Airport. Berlin’s other airport, Tegel, is
also slated for closure. Schönefeld, which is 13 miles from
Berlin, would be enlarged under the plan, and renamed the
Berlin-Brandenburg International Airport.
Built in 1923 and enlarged during the 1930s under the Hitler
regime, Tempelhof is best known as the terminal that saved West
Berlin from a Soviet blockade during the Berlin Airlift of
1948-1949. After the blockade, Tempelhof continued to serve as a US
Air Force base until 1993. The first flights of the airlift began
on June 26, 1948 -- making this year its 60th anniversary.
Today, Tempelhof serves as a major business aviation airport,
minutes from the city center. Brussels Airlines, Cirrus Airlines,
Intersky Airlines, and numerous air taxi firms also use Tempelhof.
So does Tempelhof Aviators, an FBO specializing in flight
training.
According to the 415,000 member-strong pilot advocacy group,
AOPA Germany and a coalition of Tempelhof supporters recently
mobilized to help reverse the court decision and save the airport.
A referendum was conducted to petition for a reversal; 170,000
votes were needed, and 177,952 were recorded. Some of the most
enthusiastic support comes from those living near the airport.
In June 2007, AOPA Germany organized a 180-airplane fly-in to
Tempelhof to draw attention to the battle. Another such fly-in is
scheduled for April 2008. The next step in the legal process is a
binding referendum to reverse the court decision.
Investors at one point offered to take over Tempelhof’s
buildings (shown above, during the airlift) and create a
hospital and spa center, but the proposal was rejected. The
buildings’ office space -- the world’s second largest,
after the Pentagon -- would remain intact under the government
plan, owing to its historical significance. But the runways and
airfield itself would presumably be replaced by apartment and
commercial buildings.
Other plans call for either flooding the airport and turning it
into a lake or making it into a park.
AOPA urges those wishing to express their opinions to contact
the Mayor: Klaus Wowereit, Regierender Bürgermeister, Berliner
Rathaus, 10871 Berlin, Germany.
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