Berliners face emotional vote on Cold War airlift site

BERLIN (Reuters) - At the age of 7, Mercedes Wild wavedexcitedly at each U.S. plane that circled over her Berlin homeand landed at Tempelhof airport, packed with supplies to feedBerliners during the Soviets' Cold War blockade.

Today, the 67-year old Wild is fighting against city plansto shut down the giant airport site in the centre of Berlin,which is almost the size of New York's Central Park.

After years of debate, Berliners are to vote on the closureof the Nazi-built complex on Sunday.

"It's quite emotional. The airport is a symbol of freedom,"Wild said, standing in the almost empty, 1,200 meter-longbuilding just a 10-minute drive away from the Brandenburg Gate.

"I'm fighting for the future, the future of Berlin. Oureconomy needs this airport," Wild said.

During the Berlin airlift between 1948 and 1949, Westernforces flew hundreds of thousands of tonnes of supplies intoTempelhof after the Soviets blocked rail and street access toBerlin's Western-occupied sectors.

But air traffic has slumped since the days when theso-called raisin-bombers landed in intervals of 90 seconds atthe airport. Last year, only 350,000 of Berlin's 20 million airtravellers went through the loss-making site.

The decision whether to keep Tempelhof has turned into ahigh-profile battle, pitting Berlin's popular mayor, SocialDemocrat (SPD) Klaus Wowereit, against conservative ChancellorAngela Merkel and many members of her Christian Democrats(CDU).

"The continued operation of Tempelhof isn't justsignificant to the economy and to jobs," Merkel told BZ dailylast week. "To many people and to me personally, this airport,with the airlift, is a symbol of the city's history."

Merkel has urged Berliners to participate in Sunday's vote,although its result will not be binding for the citygovernment.

Wowereit wants to close Tempelhof in October, calling themaintenance of an inner city airport an "anachronism" thatexposes residents to noise and safety risks and weighs oneconomy and environment.

COLD WAR RELIC

Dubbed the "mother of all airports" by architect Sir NormanFoster, the neoclassical terminal of Tempelhof was designed byErnst Sagebiel. Between 1936 and 1941, forced labourers builtit in the monolithic style preferred by Adolf Hitler.

The limestone building is flanked by crescent-shapedhangars which follow the curve of the oval airfield. Theterminal roof was intended as a viewing platform for up to100,000 people. A canopy was designed to allow jets to pull outof the rain.

But modern jumbos are too big to fit under the roof or touse the relatively short runways, and the airport made a lossof 115 million euros in the past 10 years, Berlin's SPD says.

A relic of its Cold War division, Berlin has two othersmallish airports besides Tempelhof, but few intercontinentalflights leave from the three sites, with most travellers havingto go through Frankfurt to reach long-haul destinations.

To make Berlin more accessible and competitive, authoritieshave decided to build a new 3-billion euro airport south of thecity, replacing the existing three airports.

"Our future is in BBI," says Wowereit, who hopes the newBerlin-Brandenburg International (BBI) complex will create some40,000 jobs when it opens in 2011.

Tempelhof critics point to court decisions stating that BBIcan only open if Berlin's other airports shut and say keepingTempelhof will spark a wave of legal proceedings and delay BBI.

Some residents see a more concrete nuisance in Tempelhof,with its runway just 100 metres away from their apartments.

"I live right in the entry lane. Wherever I go inside myhouse, I can't escape the noise," said resident Anne Schmidt,banging drums during a protest march against the airport.

Wowereit's government wants to fill the giant airfield withparks, apartments, create sites for firms researchingenvironmental technology and use the listed airport buildingfor exhibitions or film sets before its final usage is decided.

VIP AIRPORT?

Surveys show a majority of Berliners want to keep Tempelhofopen. The pro-airport campaigners -- a colourful mix ofbusinessmen, singers, actors and CDU politicians -- hope thateven though the outcome of Sunday's vote is not binding, thevoice of 2.4 million Berlin voters will not go unheard.

"Cosmopolitan city or province? Save Tempelhof!," read thepro-airport posters plastered around the capital.

"An airport for the super-rich? We won't be fooled,"anti-airport campaigners respond on their flyers.

Tempelhof is popular with private jet operators who flybusinessmen to Germany's capital. Its supporters want to extendsmall aircraft traffic and have proposed setting up a fly-inmedical clinic, hotels or a conference centre there.

Its supporters say it makes no sense to close Tempelhofbefore BBI actually opens, and argue the smaller city airportcould later complement the capacity of its larger peer.

"Air traffic is growing rapidly ... Tempelhof will relieveBBI of smaller business aviation planes and allow the newairport to grow in an unhampered way," Berlin's IHK Chamber ofCommerce said in a study on the airport this month.

The ICAT group of pro-airport campaigners says Tempelhofcould make a significant profit if managed efficiently, arguingthat empty office space and inefficient lets are mainly toblame for the airport's current losses.

Closing the site, as Wowereit wants, would incur annualmaintenance costs of 18 million to 25 million euros, with up to850 million euros more needed to make the site fit for non-airtraffic usage, ICAT says.

"Tempelhof is a great location. It's attractive to businesstravellers, with the government and business districts sonearby," ICAT spokesman Malte Pereira said, comparing theBerlin site to London's City Airport.

"Tempelhof can bring economic power and jobs to this city,"Pereira said, watching five passengers slowly cross the150-meter long, deserted check-in hall.

(Reporting by Kerstin Gehmlich; Editing by Jon Boyle)