About a week ago, I brought up the topic of a big meeting (occurred yesterday) in Berlin over Tegal Airport, and the future plans.
To set the stage, there is a written plan (agreed upon from almost twenty years ago) that once BER (the new Berlin Airport) opens and is operational.....there is a count-down to closing both Tegal and Schonefeld Airports. Tegal would be torn down completely (gutted) and a new technology sector would arise out of this area of town. Schonefeld would convert in some way to a VIP airport (no one has ever explained what this really meant....I think they meant for visiting dignitaries and government airplanes).
The meeting ended last night around midnight. What N-TV reports is:
- The Transport Minister (Dobrindt) has hinted strongly that events have changed over twenty years and that the original plan probably doesn't fit the current situation (higher numbers of people flying out of Berlin in general). Both Tegal and Schonefeld are stretched to the limit. BER remains at least eighteen months away from completion and operation (being nine years late on completion).
- Both the regions of Bandenburg and Berlin agree that whatever decision is made.....has to be made with both of them, and the federal government in agreement.
- There are legal issues if they decide to change the two-decade plan, and it'll mean a fair amount of paperwork.
- Another meeting will take place in Berlin....24 September....to be a legally but non-binding decision on Tegal staying open....either beyond BER's opening or permanently.
- Some exploration and talks are going on to look at BER and just how much they can add onto it....which now figures into the long-term plan. I suspect twenty years ago....they figured that they were thirty years away from discussing BER version 2.0 (another terminal building and possibly another run-way). The trouble is now....you'd have to start working on this within five years, and come up with the capital for the added area. And this would bring up the topic of how long before BER vesion 3.0 comes up (a third terminal?).
- The cost of renovating Tegel for long-term use? Someone threw the number of one-billion Euro out on the table.....a fair sum of money.
Out of this whole meeting, I would ponder through it and say two key things are on the table:
1. Some people may be thinking to jump on enlarging BER (going for terminal two), and go ahead on closing Tegel but make it after 2025. They would avoid the billion-Euro renovation job, and squeeze as much out of Tegel as possible.
2. The other group might believe that BER....even after a enlargement plan went into the works....might not be the real long-term answer and two major airports (keeping Tegel) is the best long-term agenda item. Schonefeld? Practically everyone is set to keep it open as a VIP type operation.
I hate to suggest the final outcome here, but I think the Berlin city leadership would like to keep Tegel on the closure list....go with the new technology center after they gutted the airport.....build the added terminal at BER, and wake up in 2025 to say that a WHOLE NEW airport must be added in the Berlin region by 2035 to handle more air traffic. They would be that incompetent to suggest this idea.
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