BERLIN, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- Berlin residents have voted in a referendum on Monday to maintain operations at the city's Tegel airport in opposition to local government plans for its closure.
A majority of 56.1 percent of voters cast their ballot in favor of keeping the small but centrally-located Tegel airport open. Although the result is non-binding, it will increase pressure on the Berlin Senate to reconsider its stance to close Tegel six months after the new and heavily-delayed Berlin Brandenburg airport (BER) finally opens.
Press reports cited Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Germany's dominant airline, as a potential loser of the development. Lufthansa has been selected for talks to acquire much of the insolvent carrier Air Berlin's fleet and landing rights and would gain a tighter grip on air traffic in the German capital if Tegel were to close.
As a consequence, rival Irish airline Ryanair supported the referendum campaign to preserve Tegel airport launched by Free Democrat (FDP) politician Sebastian Czaja with a series of billboards throughout Berlin.
Czaja succeeded in forcing the referendum by collecting 250,000 signatures after BER has seen its opening delayed by more than six years and its price tag for tax payers double to 5.1 billion euros. Berlin's Mayor Michael Mueller (SPD) wants to shut down Tegel after the new hub's completion and create a housing and technology complex in its stead.
The FDP and others supporting Czaja's campaign to "save" the airport have argued that BER's predicted capacity is already less than the number of visitors who pass through the two existing Tegel and Schoenefeld aviation facilities. In contrast, their opponents have complained about inner-city noise and pollution levels caused by Tegel, as well as emphasizing the need to ensure that public investment in BER ultimately pays off.
Tegel airport handled more than 21 million travelers last year despite being built during the Cold War with a capacity of only 2.7 million annual passengers.
