Berlin Brandenburg

[Jack D]

Does anyone remember the female ATC tower controller at TXL , possibly late 80,s early 90,s with the incredible sexy voice ? A sort of breathless Marlene Dietrich , but better.

[txl]

That's the second time I'm reading about that sexy ATC controller in a TXL related thread after lederhosen mentioned it here. She must have left quite an impression.

[Jack D]

Yes she certainly did ! I never took the the time to visit the tower during her shift as was possible in those days.
Probably preferred not to shatter the illusion, although one never knows ?

[Loose rivets]

I thought it was Tempelhof that had the underground aircraft manufacturing workshops. Many floors of them. However, I've just read a long item and that was not mentioned.

[atakacs]

What was / is in the flooded Tempelhof basements is anyone's guess and we will probably never know.
As for TXL I am also one of those regretting it. It was a truly unique place with definite drawbacks but also incredibly convenient.
Just wondering - is Easyjet not a LCC anymore ? I understand they are operating from "BER proper", not T5 ... ?

[DaveReidUK]

Less Hair

It's a rare 707-400 (Conway-engined), originally delivered to El Al, though Lufthansa has another example preserved at Hamburg so I can't see this one escaping its fate.

[Less Hair]

Rare or not. It has never been some Lufthansa aircraft. It's totally run down having been used for fire brigade and police training.
I you want to pick it up for free just give them a call.

[txl]

Originally Posted by atakacs

Just wondering - is Easyjet not a LCC anymore ? I understand they are operating from "BER proper", not T5 ... ?

Easyjet took over most of Air Berlin's destinations from TXL. They had 22 aircraft stationed at TXL and 12 at SXF. Due to the pandemic, they cut that to 18 aircraft. Still, Easyjet is considered important for BER and allowed to play with the legacy carriers at T1. BER plays an important role for their European network, they say.

[Less Hair]

It remains to be seen what U2's future role can be. For the time being LH group, that almost ignores Berlin as it already has too many hubs elsewhere, is now twice as big as the next player.

[WHBM]

Contrary to much belief by journalists, BER is not a new airport, just an expansion of the Schonefeld site, so I don't quite get this "first landing". The north runway is the old Schonefeld main runway. In fact the new BER terminal is notably closer to that runway than the old Schonefeld terminal, which is rather a dogleg of a taxy away.

The new south runway also seems less convenient to the new terminal than the old Schonefeld runway, with a lengthy taxy to the west end (a German airport feature, though not as extreme as the northern runway at Frankfurt), so I suspect there will be many requests to use the old one anyway as much as possible.

[Less Hair]

Legally you are correct however Schönefeld's terminal had been intended to be closed and torn down for some new government VIP area and hangar space until recently. Now they keep on using it as separate "BER Terminal 5" for Ryanair and others.

Today's BER northern runway had been Schönefeld's former southern runway but it has been rebuilt since from scratch being a part of BER. One of the earliest parts being completed. Like the new BER tower that has been operating for years having met the original schedule.

[WHBM]

The old northern runway at Schonefeld would have been a marginally useful addition to a key national airport, especially in snowy conditions (like Helsinki has three, so they can always keep one going in rotation). Quite why it was actually dug up and returned to grassland is not apparent. One result was that Schonefeld was reduced to a single runway airport. When it was reconstructed for the new arrangement, the new BER southern runway was brought into use, in 2015 I read, so quite how we can have a "first landing" when both the BER runways have been in use for years, in varying combinations, is not apparent. I'll put it down to something lost in translation. Although calling the old Schonefeld terminal the "new" BER Terminal 5 is notably being economical with the truth.

I haven't seen how the S-Bahn train now is organised with the split between terminal areas with separate stations. The frequent S-Bahn from Schonefeld station direct to the cross-city east-west line with all its stations through the city was notably more convenient than any transport option Tegel offered.

[Less Hair]

Legally the southern runway will start ops on November 4. What we see now -and have seen in the past- is special permit traffic. This is why the parallel landing opening on Saturday had to be cancelled due to IMC finally.

[BEA 71]

Just being curious I checked today´s departures since 6 a.m.. About 90% are EasyJet and Ryanair, some Wizz, but no Lufthansa flight. May be this is the direction BER is going. No doubt this is going to change in the days to come. Not all can be blamed to Convid-19, it looks like there is a tendency.

[Denti]

There is a changeover period ending on November 8th. I believe Lufthansa Group switches on the 7th.

[Less Hair]

The final flight at Tegel is a special flight by Air France on November 8th. After that it's kept on idle standby for six more months and then closed. Except for Luftwaffe helicopters that is.

[txl]

I really don't get the "first touchdown was years ago" nitpicking here. While that might physically be the same runway, those flights were going to SXF. Same goes for the southern runway, which was in use on a special permit for a short time only while the northern runway was being redone. Yesterday's LH & EZY flights were the first two destined for BER ever.

And SXF Nordbahn had been closed and partly demolished in 2007 because they build an Autobahn through there.

[737 Jockey]

LCC’s still flying from old ‘Terminal 5’ - what a dump.

[Less Hair]

T5 is not that bad. Two S-Bahn stops closer to downtown east and cheaper handling. Given, ugly DDR style, small and not comfortable. Like the very opposite to Changi.

[WHBM]

Originally Posted by txl

I really don't get the "first touchdown was years ago" nitpicking here. While that might physically be the same runway, those flights were going to SXF.

Well, sorry, but I feel the nitpicking is pretending it's a new airport when it patently isn't. Everyone on Ryanair into BER is, it seems, landing on the same runway and going through the same terminal as ever. Now Manchester (just to take one of many examples) built a new runway, a new terminal, and a new rail station, and without all the construction snafu. But they didn't pretend it was a completely new airport.