Air France to operate last flight from Tegel

Berlin’s airport operator has confirmed that Air France will conduct the last flight from the German capital’s Tegel airport on 8 November – 60 years after the French flag carrier became the first civilian operator at the former military airfield. Regular flights from Tegel will end on 7 November following the planned opening of Berlin’s long-delayed new Brandenburg airport on 31 October. But Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg says that Air France agreed to operate a last special flight from Tegel on 8 November. “Hardly any other airline than Air France is as closely associated with the long and eventful history of flight operations at Tegel,” states FBB chief executive Engelbert Lütke Daldrup. An Air France Lockheed Super Constellation arriving from Paris via Frankfurt became the first civilian aircraft to land at Tegel in early 1960. The airfield northwest of the city centre subsequently became West Berlin’s main gateway – replacing the former Tempelhof airport – as land-based westbound transport had to travel through former East Germany.<br/>