Berlin Schönefeld Airport ( ('); ), name from October 31, 2020 until decommissioning on November 18, 2022 Flughafen BER Terminal 5, was Schönefeld Airport was the major civil airport of East Germany (GDR) and the only airport of the former East Berlin.

On 25 October 2020 the Schönefeld name and IATA code SXF ceased to exist, However, to provide competition for Ryanair's new routes, Germanwings announced a return to Schönefeld in addition to their Tegel operations from October 2015.

Aer Lingus also announced it would switch airports within Berlin, from Schönefeld to Tegel, by March 2015. Meanwhile, Ryanair announced the establishment of their sixth German base in Schönefeld by 27 October 2015 by deploying five aircraft to the airport and adding 16 new routes.

On 2 May 2015, aircraft departing from Schönefeld became the first commercial flights to use the southern runway of the new Berlin Brandenburg Airport, which temporarily became Schönefeld's only runway while the original southern runway (and only remaining one of the two original runways), which has become the northern runway of the new airport, was renovated.

Extension work at Schönefeld Airport was completed in 2016. Terminal K was extended by approx. and the baggage area was also enlarged by 40 per cent. Terminal M2, an entirely new arrival terminal was built west of Terminal M. Spanning almost , this building features three baggage carousels and the coach parking area was relocated to a new area in P6.

The airport continued to see exceptionally high growth of passenger numbers with Berlin's economic growth. As of November 2016, the airport operated near full capacity despite several additions to the infrastructure in its final years.

On 25 October 2020, Schönefeld Airport became Terminal 5 of Berlin Brandenburg Airport. The IATA code SXF was discontinued on this day. Schönefeld's terminal buildings were intended to be used until the inauguration of a planned Terminal 3 by 2030 with Ryanair as their primary tenant.

However, in November 2020, it was announced that Terminal 5 would be closed due to low passenger numbers in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany, with all flights relocating to the main Terminal 1. The terminal was subsequently indefinitely closed on 22 February 2021.

In November 2022, it was announced that Terminal 5, the former Schönefeld Airport, would be permanently closed.

Facilities

thumb|Terminal B main hall

thumb|Terminal D check-in area

Schönefeld Airport consisted of the four terminals A, B, C, and D which were renamed to K, L, M, and Q prior to the merger into the new Berlin Brandenburg Airport. These terminals were located next to each other but have separate landside areas. However, they were connected through a joint airside concourse. Terminal Q had no check-in facilities; it was used exclusively for passengers clearing security checks to enter the airside boarding gates. Due to a lack of space, there were not as many facilities as those at many other international airports. There were some shops, however, including duty-free, newsstands, a few fast food restaurants, and a single airline lounge.

Terminal A

The main building was the original part of the airport. It housed check-in for Terminals K and L. Terminal A featured check-in counters L01–L18, with the largest user being Ryanair alongside several other airlines like Aeroflot.

Terminal B

Terminal B, located in a side wing, was originally reserved for transit passengers to and from West Berlin who took advantage of cheaper airfares and package tours arranged by an East German travel agency. In later years, it was used exclusively by easyJet with check-in counters K20–K29 and was refurbished. The airside consisted of three jet bridges as well as several walk-boarding aircraft stands located at Pier 3a, an extension that was opened in 2005. Pier 3a was under extensive reconstruction until mid-2019 to allow use as part of the new Berlin Brandenburg Airport. It was further reconfigured in 2015 to provide access to all terminal gates. To reduce congestion in other terminals, it then housed additional security checkpoints for passengers who are checked in and have checked their luggage or only carry hand luggage.

Terminal D

Terminal D was opened in December 2005 due to rapidly growing passenger numbers. Being nearly identical to Terminal C at Berlin Tegel Airport, it featured check-in counters M40–M57, which were mainly used by Ryanair, Condor, and Norwegian Air Shuttle. It did not feature jet bridges but several walk-boarding stands. In November 2016, the new large arrivals area D2 opened right next to Terminal D.

Other facilities

  • The head office of Private Wings has been located in the General Aviation Terminal on the property of Schönefeld Airport.
  • Before its demise, the East German flag carrier Interflug had its headquarters on the airport property.
  • Until Brandenburg Airport started construction , 07L/25R was actually known as 07R/25L as Schönefeld had a different 07L/25R. This runway cut across the current Autobahn 113, with the approach lighting to the old runway 25R stretching into Bohnsdorf. This runway was about long - some shorter than the then 07R/25L, and was surfaced with concrete slabs instead of asphalt pavement.

Former airlines and destinations

Prior to its closure as an independent airport, Schönefeld had been served mostly by low-cost and leisure carriers with easyJet, Ryanair, Condor, and Wizz Air offering the most destinations. The airport did not see any long-haul traffic but did serve several dozen routes to European metropolitan and leisure destinations around the Mediterranean. Only a few legacy carriers preferred Schönefeld over Tegel Airport, most notably Aeroflot, El Al and Egypt Air.

Statistics

Annual traffic

{| class="wikitable"

|+ Annual passenger traffic

! Year

! Passengers

! % change

|-

|2000|| 2,209,444 ||

|-

|2001|| 1,915,110 || -13.3%

|-

|2002|| 1,688,028 || -11.8%

|-

|2003|| 1,750,921 || 3.7%

|-

|2004|| 3,382,106 || 93.1%

|-

|2005|| 5,075,172 || 50%

|-

|2006|| 6,059,343 || 19.3%

|-

|2007|| 6,331,191 || 4.5%

|-

|2008|| 6,638,162 || 4.8%

|-

|2009|| 6,797,158 || 2.4%

|-

|2010|| 7,297,911 || 7.3%

|-

|2011|| 7,113,989 || -2.5%

|-

|2012|| 7,097,274 || -0.2%

|-

|2013|| 6,727,306 || -5.2%

|-

|2014|| 7,292,517 || 8.4%

|-

|2015 ||8,526,268 || 17%

|-

|2016|| 11,652,922 || 36.6%

|-

|2017|| 12,865,312 || 10.4%

|-

|2018|| 12,725,937 || -1.1%

|-

|2019|| 11,417,435 || -10.3%

|-

|}

Busiest routes

{| class="wikitable sortable"

|+ Busiest European routes at Schönefeld Airport (2019)

<!--

All values are based on the same source. Don't change these unless you have a complete source for all values!!!

-->

|-

! Rank||Destination||All passengers||Operating airlines

|-

|1

| London-Gatwick

|486,222

| Easyjet

|-

|2

| Barcelona

|459,363

| Easyjet, Ryanair

|-

|3

| Basel/Mulhouse

|438,698

| Easyjet

|-

|4

| [Stansted Airport|London-Stansted

|436,444

| Ryanair

|-

|5

| Moscow-Sheremetyevo

|409,388

| Aeroflot

|-

|-

|}

{| class="wikitable sortable"

|+ Busiest intercontinental routes at Schönefeld Airport (2019) (excl. airports in the European part of Turkey) At night, the underground replacement bus N7 was available.

Accidents and incidents

  • On 14 August 1972, an Ilyushin Il-62 aircraft of Interflug (registered DM-SEA) crashed near Königs Wusterhausen shortly into a flight to Burgas, killing all 156 passengers and crew on board.
  • On 22 November 1977, a Tupolev Tu-134 aircraft of Interflug (registration DM-SCM) crashed upon landing at Schönefeld Airport due to a falsely configured autopilot. There were no fatalities among the 74 passengers and crew, but the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.
  • On 19 August 1978, LOT Polish Airlines Flight 165, a LOT flight from Gdańsk-Rębiechowo Airport to Schönefeld (carried out on a Tupolev Tu-134, registration SP-LGC), was hijacked and forced to land at Tempelhof Airport in West Berlin, thus having been used as a means for escaping the Eastern Bloc. In these cases, perpetrators were usually not charged by Western authorities.
  • On 12 December 1986, Aeroflot Flight 892 an Aeroflot Tupolev Tu-134 (registration CCCP-65795) coming from Minsk Airport crashed in Berlin Bohnsdorf on its approach towards Schönefeld airport, after having attempted to land on a runway that was temporarily blocked for construction work, killing 72 of the 82 passengers and crew on board.
  • On 17 June 1989, an Ilyushin Il-62 aircraft of Interflug (registration DDR-SEW) bound for Moscow crashed shortly after take-off into a field near the airport and caught fire. 21 people on board as well as one person on the ground were killed. The East German authorities feared an act of sabotage due to the anniversary of the East German uprising, which led to a delayed aid for injured people. West Berlin rescuers offering help were denied access to the scene. The cause for the accident was later given as a jammed rudder due to a manufacturing defect.
  • On 28 March 2000, a Boeing 737-300 of Germania (registration D-AGES) operating a charter flight on behalf of LTU from Tenerife South Airport to Schönefeld was the subject of an attempted hijack in mid-flight. A passenger forced his way into the cockpit, where he attacked the pilot, leading to a sudden loss of altitude. The perpetrator was restrained and the flight continued to Berlin.
  • On 19 June 2010, a 1944-built, historic Douglas DC-3 D-CXXX of Berlin Air Services crashed shortly after takeoff on a local sightseeing flight, causing seven injuries but no fatalities.

See also

  • Transport in Germany
  • Transport in Berlin
  • List of airports in Germany
  • Berlin Brandenburg Airport
  • Airports of Berlin

References

  • Official website