THIS year Berlin is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall – the wall that divided today’s capital of Germany right down the middle.
For Berlin, the end of the Berlin Wall was among the happiest events in modern and recent history. For that reason, the city continues to celebrate it with various themed events in museums, other institutions, exhibitions, commemorations and other events on the division of Germany and Berlin.
Berlin Airports guarantees the air traffic infrastructure for the capital region of Berlin Brandenburg. From 2011, all air traffic will flow through the new Capital Airport Berlin Brandenburg International BBI.
Berlin Airports is showing record growth according to its press office. In 2008, over 21.4 million passengers flew to and from Berlin. This surpasses its performance in 2007, when the company handled 20 million passengers.
With growth of 1.4 million passengers compared to the previous year, Berlin Airports ranks first ahead of all German airports.
With a passenger growth of seven per cent, Berlin Airports’ growth is ten times higher than the average of all German airports.
Berlin is well connected to the rest of the world; last year 82 airlines landed at the Berlin airports. Berlin served more than 170 destinations in more than 50 countries in 2008, 127 of which were in Europe. With non-stop flights from Tegel to New York, Bangkok and Beijing the range of long haul flights offered is constantly improving. Since 2005 Qatar Airways offers a daily connection between Berlin and Doha, the capital of Qatar.
As of 2011, all air traffic for the Berlin-Brandenburg region will be concentrated at the airport in the south east of the city. Tempelhof Airport was closed in October last year, and this will be followed in 2011 by the closure of Tegel Airport when BBI opens.