Feb. 12 (Bloomberg) -- A court in Berlin ordered the closure next year of the German capital's Tempelhof airport, the scene of the post-World War II Berlin Airlift, rejecting arguments from companies claiming their business will be hurt.

A closure of Tempelhof, one of the German capital's three airports, by Oct. 31, 2008 will not infringe on the rights of businesses such as catering and flight maintenance operators, the Berlin-Brandenburg administrative court said in statement on the court Web site. The businesses have enough time to move operations to the city's planned single airport, the court said.

Both Tempelhof and Berlin's Tegel airport are marked for closure to make way for the Berlin-Brandenburg International airport, set for completion in 2011. The city has undertaken a 2.2 billion-euro ($2.9 billion) project to expand Berlin Schoenefeld airport into BBI, more than doubling capacity to 40 million passengers from some 18 million travelers last year.

Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit greeted the timeframe for the planned closure of Tempelhof, which opened in 1923 and was later expanded by the Nazi government, according to a faxed statement.

Tempelhof played a role in the first major crisis of the Cold War when the Soviet Union's blockade of West Berlin prompted a humanitarian airlift by the allies -- the U.S., U.K. and France -- from June 1948 to May 1949. At the height of the airlift, allied aircraft landed at the rate of almost one per minute.

To contact the reporter on this story: Patrick Donahue in Berlin at at pdonahue1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: February 12, 2007 08:09 EST