The airport that served as a gateway for the Eastern Bloc

Countries & Cities · Published 15 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Before it became a footnote in aviation history, Berlin Schönefeld was the primary civil aviation hub of East Germany. It wasn't just a transport node; it was a strategic loophole in Cold War restrictions, allowing East German carriers to fly while their Western neighbors were strictly barred from the city.

The history of Schönefeld is rooted in industrial military utility. Construction began in 1934 to serve a Henschel aircraft plant, which produced over 14,000 aircraft by the end of World War II. Following the war, the site was occupied by Soviet troops and eventually repurposed as a civilian airport in 1947. Because it sat outside the city boundaries of Berlin, it became a vital loophole in the Four Power Agreement. While West German carriers like Lufthansa were denied access to Berlin's city airports, the East German flag carrier Interflug was permitted to operate out of Schönefeld.

The airport's layout tells a story of surveillance and transition. Constructed during the 1980s, Terminal C functioned as 'Sonderraum' (Special Room), a Stasi-protected VIP area for the East German government. After 1990, it was repurposed for security-sensitive flights, such as those from Israeli airlines. Other terminals served specific roles: Terminal B was originally for transit passengers from West Berlin seeking cheaper fares, while Terminal D was opened in 2005 to handle the massive growth in low-cost carrier traffic.

The airport's demise was a result of planned consolidation. Following German reunification, the cost of maintaining three separate airports led to the construction of Berlin Brandenburg Airport. Schönefeld was eventually incorporated into the new hub as Terminal 5. However, despite being refurbished, Terminal 5 was permanently closed in November 2022. In its final years, the airport was a hub for low-cost giants like Ryanair and easyJet, handling 12.9 million passengers in 2017 before its infrastructure was absorbed or abandoned.

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