Feature28 SEP 20265 min readDromopedia editors

After the last flight

When a city moves its airport, the old one becomes a park, a housing estate or a cruise terminal. The runway is usually the last thing to go.

Cathay Pacific Spirit of Hong Kong B742 Kai Tak Final Approach
Hong Kong International Airport Kai Tak · Ywchow · Public domain · Commons

An airport that closes leaves behind a very large, very flat piece of land where land is scarce. Kai Tak's site is 280 ha in the middle of Kowloon; Tempelhof's field is more than 300 ha, a few kilometres from the centre of Berlin. Each of the four cities below did something different with the ground.1

Kai Tak

HK-0099Hong Kong International Airport Kai Tak HK · 9 M / 28 FT · CLOSED 1998First recorded flight 1925. Closed 6 July 1998; the last departure left runway 13 at 01.

The first recorded flight from Kai Tak took place on Lunar New Year's Day in 1925. The runway that made the airport famous came later: in 1958 a 2,529 m strip was built on a promontory into Kowloon Bay, and in 1975 it was extended to 3,390 m for long-haul jets.2 Landing on it from the north-west, on runway 13, meant flying towards the hills of Kowloon and turning late. An Instrument Guidance System, installed in 1974, led aircraft on an easterly heading towards a hillside painted as an orange and white checkerboard in Kowloon Tsai; there the pilot turned right by about 47 degrees, less than 2 nautical miles from the threshold, entering the turn at about 650 ft and rolling out at about 140 ft over the rooftops.23 In 1996 Kai Tak handled 29.5 million international passengers.2

It closed on 6 July 1998, the night Chek Lap Kok opened to traffic. The last departure was Cathay Pacific's ferry flight CX3340, an A340-300, off runway 13 at 01:05; at 01:16 the Director of Civil Aviation, Richard Siegel, said "Goodbye Kai Tak, and thank you" and switched off the lights.45 More on the year at /history/1998.

The site is now the Kai Tak Development, a 320 ha planning area for housing, commerce and recreation.6 The runway became the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal, where the first ship, Mariner of the Seas, berthed on 12 June 2013.7 Beyond it, at the very tip, a 2.82 ha Runway Park opened in 2014 and keeps the yellow and black checkered pattern of the taxiway end and the painted "13" and "31".8 On the apron side, the Kai Tak Sports Park opened on 1 March 2025 with a 50,000-seat stadium and a 10,000-seat arena.9

The register gives Kai Tak an opening year of 1954, from Wikidata's "date of official opening"; the same item records an inception of 25 January 1925, which matches the Civil Aviation Department's account. Treat 1925 as the airfield's beginning.1

Tempelhof

DE-0456Berlin Tempelhof International Airport DE · 51 M / 167 FT · CLOSED 2008Opened 8 October 1923; closed 30 October 2008. The field has been a public park since 2010.

Berlin's city airport opened at Tempelhof on 8 October 1923.1 The terminal that stands there today was built between 1936 and 1941 to Ernst Sagebiel's plans; its curved front runs for about 1.2 km, and Tempelhof Projekt GmbH, which runs the building for the state of Berlin, calls it Europe's largest architectural monument.1011 Flying ended on 30 October 2008, when a DC-3 and a Junkers Ju 52 took off shortly before midnight and the runway lights went out.12 In its last year the airport had 278,555 passengers.1 See /history/2008.

The field reopened on 8 May 2010 as a park of about 355 ha, and about 235,000 people came that first weekend.13 The two concrete runways were kept, and Berliners skate and cycle on them.14 When the Senate proposed building along the edges, a citizens' initiative forced a referendum: on 25 May 2014, 739,124 voters, 64.3% of those who took part, backed a law against construction on the field, and the Tempelhofer Feld law came into force that June.1516 The building went another way. In November 2015 three of its seven hangars were opened as emergency shelter for about 2,300 refugees, mostly from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.17 The hangars and the apron now host Formula E, the Lollapalooza festival and around 1,000 event enquiries a year.11

Tegel

DE-0876Berlin-Tegel Otto Lilienthal International Airport DE · 37 M / 122 FT · CLOSED 2020Built in 90 days in 1948 for the airlift. Last flight 8 November 2020, Air France to Paris.

Tegel was built during the Berlin airlift. Work began on 5 August 1948 and the first aircraft, a USAF C-54, landed on 5 November 1948, 90 days later, on a 2,428 m runway that was then the longest in Europe. The first civil service was an Air France Constellation on 2 January 1960, and the hexagonal terminal by von Gerkan, Marg and Partners opened on 1 November 1974.18 The register dates Tegel from 1939, again Wikidata's "date of official opening"; the item's inception is 1948, and before that the site was a rocket testing ground, not an airport.118

The last flight was Air France AF1235, an A320 to Paris-Charles de Gaulle, on the afternoon of 8 November 2020. The airport had carried 24.24 million passengers in 2019. It stayed on standby for six months in case the new BER failed, and ceased to be an airport in law on 5 May 2021.19 See /history/2020. The name Otto Lilienthal, which the register keeps, is discussed in What's in a name.

Terminal A and its forecourt were listed as a monument on 1 April 2019.20 The state's plan for the site is Berlin TXL: a 202 ha research and industrial park called the Urban Tech Republic, with the Berliner Hochschule für Technik moving into Terminal A, and the Schumacher Quartier, 46 ha of housing with more than 5,000 flats for over 10,000 people, where construction was due to begin in 2026. The runways and taxiways are to be reused for sports grounds, a skate park and a roller derby track.21

Ellinikon

GR-0098Athens Ellinikon International Airport GR · 21 M / 69 FT · CLOSED 2001Opened 2 June 1938; last flight 28 March 2001. The Saarinen terminal of 1969 is to be kept.

Athens's airport at Ellinikon was inaugurated on 2 June 1938. Its East Terminal, designed by Eero Saarinen between 1960 and 1969, opened in 1969, and by 1990 the airport could take 12 million passengers a year.22 The register records 13.3 million in 2000, its last full year.1 The final flight, an Olympic Airways 737 to Thessaloniki, left on 28 March 2001, the day Athens International Airport at Spata began operating.2223 See /history/2001.

The site had a second life in 2004, when six Olympic venues were built on it: baseball, softball, hockey, canoe and kayak slalom, an indoor arena and a fencing hall.22 Then it waited. The developer Lamda now controls about 1,500 acres, some 600 ha, with a park of 2,000,000 m² that it calls Europe's largest coastal park.2425 A first piece, the Experience Park, opened in December 2021.26 The Greek culture ministry has listed three hangars, and Saarinen's terminal is to become a cultural centre.24 The 50-storey Riviera Tower by Foster + Partners, with 170 residences, had reached its 44th floor by March 2026; the first residents are expected in summer 2027.2728

What stays

Of the four, only Kai Tak's runway has been built over, and even there the park at the tip keeps the numbers. Tempelhof's runways carry skaters, Tegel's are to do the same, and Berlin's voters made the field itself permanent. A terminal can be listed, sold or filled with tenants. A strip of pavement three kilometres long is harder to argue with, and a city that suddenly owns one tends to keep it.

Sources

  1. Dromopedia register: Closed and historic, closed airfields ordered by the number of Wikipedia editions with an article. Dates come from Wikidata (Ellinikon's closure from Wikipedia), passengers from Wikidata. Entries: Kai Tak, Tempelhof, Tegel, Ellinikon. Wikidata items Q673202 and Q9688 carry both an inception and a later "official opening", and the register took the latter. 2 3 4 5 6

  2. Civil Aviation Department, Hong Kong, Kai Tak Airport 1925–1998: first flight 1925, runway of 1958 and its 1975 extension, IGS of 1974, 29.5 million passengers in 1996. 2 3

  3. Kai Tak Airport, English Wikipedia, citing Steven K. Bailey, Exploring Hong Kong, 2009, for the 47-degree turn and the heights.

  4. South China Morning Post, "Roger, over and out, Kai Tak", first published 6 July 1998: lights out at 01:16, Siegel's words, 73 years of aviation at the site.

  5. Marcus Wong, Closure of Kai Tak Airport and the transfer to Chek Lap Kok, Checkerboard Hill, 28 December 2016: CX3340 off runway 13 at 01:05, new airport open on 6 July 1998.

  6. Civil Engineering and Development Department, Hong Kong, Kai Tak Development: 320 ha planning area, 280 ha former airport site.

  7. Hong Kong Government, welcome remarks at the inaugural berthing of Mariner of the Seas at Kai Tak Cruise Terminal, 12 June 2013.

  8. Hong Kong Government, Former airport remembered at Kai Tak Runway Park (Phase I), 10 August 2014: 2.82 ha, the checkered pattern, the "13" and "31" markings. The Leisure and Cultural Services Department's annual report 2014–15 gives the opening as April 2014.

  9. Hong Kong Government, Kai Tak Sports Park Grand Opening Ceremony held today, 1 March 2025.

  10. Berlin Tempelhof Airport, English Wikipedia: Sagebiel's building of 1936–41 and its 1.2 km length.

  11. Tempelhof Projekt GmbH, Event location: "Europe's largest architectural monument", Formula E, Lollapalooza, about 1,000 enquiries a year. 2

  12. Associated Press via NBC News, "Farewell to Berlin's Tempelhof airport", 29–30 October 2008: the DC-3 and Ju 52 shortly before midnight.

  13. Tempelhofer Feld, English Wikipedia, with its citations: reopened 8 May 2010, 355 ha, 235,000 visitors on the opening weekend. Grün Berlin gives the area as "more than 300 hectares".

  14. Berlin.de, Park Tempelhofer Feld: the two concrete runways, skating and cycling.

  15. Amt für Statistik Berlin-Brandenburg, Volksentscheid über den Erhalt des Tempelhofer Feldes am 25. Mai 2014: 739,124 yes votes, 64.3% of valid votes, 46.1% turnout.

  16. Grün Berlin, About Tempelhofer Feld: opened to the public in 2010, the Tempelhofer Feld law in force from June 2014.

  17. Newsweek, "Thousands of refugees find shelter at the site of Berlin airlift", 26 November 2015.

  18. Airporthistory.org, Berlin Tegel Airport through time: construction of 5 August to 5 November 1948, 2,428 m runway, Air France on 2 January 1960, terminal of 1 November 1974, earlier rocket range. 2

  19. Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg GmbH, #DankeTXL, press release, 8 November 2020: AF1235, 24.24 million passengers in 2019, six months of standby, end of the operating obligation on 5 May 2021.

  20. Landesdenkmalamt Berlin, Flughafen Tegel unter Denkmalschutz, 1 April 2019.

  21. Berlin TXL Management GmbH, Urban Tech Republic FAQ: 202 ha, Schumacher Quartier of 46 ha and 5,000 flats, Terminal A for the university, runways and taxiways for sport, first housing construction 2026.

  22. Lamda Development, The Ellinikon International Airport, 22 December 2025: inauguration 2 June 1938, East Terminal 1969, 12 million capacity, last flight 28 March 2001, six Olympic venues. 2 3

  23. Ellinikon International Airport, English Wikipedia: the Olympic Airways 737 to Thessaloniki; Athens International Airport, opened 28 March 2001.

  24. Architectural Record, "Foster + Partners and Sasaki to transform disused Athens airport", 17 January 2024: 1,500 acres, Saarinen's terminal as a cultural centre, three listed hangars, tower of about 650 ft. 2

  25. Lamda Development, The Ellinikon Park: 2,000,000 m².

  26. Lamda Development, SITES Gold for the Ellinikon Experience Park, 19 February 2024: delivered December 2021.

  27. Parapolitika, "Lamda Development: first residents move to Ellinikon in 2027", 6 March 2026: 44th floor complete, 50 floors, summer 2027.

  28. Lamda Development, The Ellinikon Residences: Riviera Tower by Foster + Partners, 170 residences.

Codes, elevations and runway lengths in the airport cards are from the Dromopedia register, built from OurAirports. Each entry’s data page names the source of every field; see also About the data.