Air Berlin is to mark the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall with three sightseeing flights over the city on the evening of November 8.
The flights will follow the 15km ‘illuminated border’ made up of 8,000 luminous balloons that trace a section of the former course of the wall. A 76-seat propeller aircraft will follow the route, flying at a height of 1,000 metres.
The light installation will stretch from Bornholmer Strasse to the Oberbaum Bridge and a guide will accompany the flights and narrate the history of the divided city.
The flights will be given the numbers AB1989, AB1990 and AB1991, evoking the year of the fall of the Wall, the year of reunification, and the year of the re-launch of Air Berlin as a German airline following the watershed events.
The carrier is expecting to transport close to 36,000 passengers to Berlin during the Silver Jubilee celebrations.
Air Berlin owes its formation to the creation of the Berlin Wall, as when Germany was divided, only airlines of Allied nations were permitted to fly to West Berlin. Air Berlin, founded as an American charter airline, was able to offer flights from West Berlin from 1979.
Upon reunification, the carrier lost its air traffic rights, but these were restored when it re-launched as a German airline in 1991 and today Air Berlin is Germany’s the second largest carrier.
Tickets for the €99 special flights are available at airberlin.com/fallofthewall or by calling +49 (0)30/3434 3434.
Gary Noakes
