West Berlin Air Corridor

In addition, it was also used by LOT Polish Airlines for regular scheduled services from Warsaw to London and Paris via Schönefeld Airport to the south of East Berlin.

[1] The air corridors connected the three West Berlin airports of Tempelhof, Tegel and Gatow with other airfields/airports.

[2][nb 1] However, on occasion, the height restriction would be raised to 13,000 ft (3,962 m) in order to accommodate Soviet military exercises.

This in turn extended the jet's flying time inside the air corridor and resulted in higher operating costs due to increased fuel consumption at 10,000 ft (3,050 m), especially on short-haul internal German services covering a maximum distance of 300 mi (480 km).

At such a low altitude, modern jet aircraft could not attain an efficient cruising speed.