Germany's top administrative court threw out a bid yesterday to prevent the closure of the capital's historic Tempelhof Airport, which played a key role in the Berlin airlift, clearing the way for it to close to passengers next year.
Several airline companies that use the inner-city airport had sought to block the closure, which had been scheduled as part of plans to build a new hub on the edge of the capital.
The Leipzig-based Federal Administrative Court rejected their claims, approving an earlier decision by a Berlin-Brandenburg administrative court, which argued in February that acceptable alternatives were available and the companies' rights were not infringed upon.
The money-losing Tempelhof is scheduled to shut on October 31, 2008, and companies using it will be able to operate flights from Berlin's Schoenefeld airport starting November 1.
Tempelhof opened in 1923 and was expanded under the Nazis into a huge horseshoe-shaped complex. Its massive terminal is one of the most prominent remaining examples of the era's architecture in Berlin.
After World War II left the city divided into east and west, Tempelhof became the hub of the nearly yearlong US-led Berlin airlift when the Soviets blockaded West Berlin in 1948.
Tempelhof - the closest of the city's three international airports to downtown Berlin - is now used only for short-hop flights with small aircraft.
While it is too small for many modern jets, its backers value its convenient location.
Schoenefeld will be expanded into the capital's new hub, Berlin-Brandenburg International, by 2011. Tegel Airport is also slated to close.
Source: China Daily/Agencies
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