Berlin Tegel Airport (IATA-Code: TXL) is now officially closed after the very last departure from the airport on Sunday.
The last symbolic flight was operated by an Air France Airbus A320 with flight number AF1235 to Paris. It received a double water salute by the airport fire and rescue services. Back in 1960, it was the French carrier that first started flights from Berlin Tegel. Now, the 60-year history has come to an end.
Air France flight #AF1235 is the last regularly scheduled flight from Berlin Tegel Airport and received a water salute prior to departure. #TXL pic.twitter.com/sBgflDrkrx
— International Flight Network (@FlightIntl) November 8, 2020
Despite current travel restrictions between Germany and France, the Air France flight was full. This is partly due to a spontaneous aircraft change from an Airbus A321 to a smaller A320. Terminal C, formerly utilised by low-cost carrier Easyjet, was used for the final departure. Before boarding, there were speeches by Berlin Airport boss Engelbert Lütke-Daldrup and Air France General Manager Stefan Gumuseli, among others.
Even though initially planned, Air France was not the last airline to land on late-Saturday. A Eurowings aircraft that was carrying out sightseeing flights over Berlin arrived while AF1235 was already on the ground at Tegel Airport.
From now on, all flights will land and depart at the newly opened Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER). Most airlines have already started operations at the new airport over the course of the week. Germany’s flag-carrier Lufthansa ended its operations at TXL on Saturday with a special flight to Munich that was operated by an Airbus A350-900 jet.
Nick Wenzel founded International Flight Network in 2016. He is the Social Media Manager and an Editor for IFN.news.
