German Chancellor Friedrich Merz criticised Berlin’s airport policy at a Berlin Chamber of Industry and Commerce event on Tuesday, describing the city’s treatment of its airport facilities as “miserably bad”. He argued that four of the capital’s six runways had been closed without replacement. Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER), the city’s only operating commercial airport, has two runways; the other four were at the now-closed Tempelhof and Tegel airports.
Merz said he had long wanted a different airport policy for Berlin and called for the capital to be better connected by all modes of transport. His remarks renewed political criticism of the decisions that led to the closure of Tempelhof and Tegel, but did not include a proposal to reopen either airport or build additional runway capacity.
No specific transport measures, investment or implementation timetable were set out. The remarks also gave no estimate of how the closures affect airline operations or establish a shortfall in airport capacity. Berlin officials and airport operator Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg were not reported to have responded.