Berlin-Tegel Airport

About Berlin-Tegel Airport

Berlin Tegel "Otto Lilienthal" Airport was the primary international airport of Berlin, the capital of Germany. During the Cold War era, it served West Berlin. The airport was named after aviation pioneer Otto Lilienthal and was the fourth busiest airport in Germany, with over 24 million passengers in 2019. In 2016, Tegel handled over 60% of all airline passenger traffic in Berlin. The airport served as a base for Eurowings, Ryanair and easyJet. It featured flights to several European metropolitan and leisure destinations as well as some intercontinental routes. It was situated in Tegel, a section of the northern borough of Reinickendorf, eight kilometres northwest of the city centre of Berlin. Tegel Airport was notable for its hexagonal main terminal building around an open square, which made walking distances as short as 30 m (100 ft) from the aircraft to the terminal exit. Source: "Berlin Tegel Airport" by Wikipedia contributors (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Tegel_Airport), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Edit history on the linked Wikipedia page.

Overview

Berlin-Tegel Airport is the main commercial airport for Berlin, Germany. Its IATA code is TXL and its ICAO code is EDDT. The clocks here run on Europe/Berlin, the runway sits about 122 ft above sea level, and the airport is a large international gateway, with around 210 scheduled departure pairs in the public OpenFlights schedule plus onward connections through partner airlines.

Terminals and concourses

Most travellers will pass through one of a handful of terminal areas at Berlin-Tegel Airport. Bigger fields tend to split domestic and international traffic into separate halls, each with its own arrivals area, immigration counters, customs and a landside check-in concourse. Signage is bilingual wherever the local language and English share the airport, and walking between terminals at Berlin's main gateway is usually possible on foot. Where the aprons stretch more than a kilometre, a shuttle bus or an automated people mover takes over.

Lounges and amenities

Lounge options at Berlin-Tegel Airport match what you would expect from a large international gateway. There is normally at least one airline-run lounge for premium-cabin passengers and elite-status flyers, plus an independent or contract lounge that sells day passes and accepts programmes like Priority Pass, DragonPass, Plaza Premium and LoungeKey. Inside, you can usually count on hot food, espresso, charging at every seat, decent Wi-Fi, and showers at the busier terminals. Quiet zones, prayer rooms and family areas tend to sit landside near check-in.

Getting to and from the airport

Getting between Berlin-Tegel Airport and central Berlin is straightforward. Licensed taxis queue at marked curbs outside arrivals, with metered or zoned fares posted at the rank. Ride-hail apps have a designated pickup point, often one level up at departures or in a nearby lot. Public transport varies by city. A primary gateway like this one almost always offers an express train, a metro line or a dedicated airport bus running from before the first wave of departures until after the last arrival. Long-stay parking, rental car desks and hotel shuttle stops are clustered together on the landside.

Tips for travellers

A few things worth knowing for Berlin-Tegel Airport. Aim to arrive at least two hours before a domestic flight and three hours before an international one, especially during peak banks. Local time is Europe/Berlin, so plan your transfers around the time difference if you are coming in from another zone. Save a screenshot of your boarding pass before you leave the house, since terminal Wi-Fi is hit and miss when it gets busy. If you are connecting on a partner airline, check whether your bag is tagged through to the final destination, because Berlin-Tegel Airport handles a mix of in-terminal and inter-terminal connections. With 208 direct destinations on the public schedule, this is a useful node for both point-to-point trips and onward connections across Germany and the wider region.

More guides for TXL

Four extra pages dig deeper into lounges, layovers, getting to and from the airport, and the terminal layout itself. Open whichever one matches the problem in front of you.

Direct destinations from TXL

These are the cities you can fly to nonstop from Berlin-Tegel Airport, based on the published schedule. Tap any one to open its own terminal, lounge and route guide.