Berlin's airports braced for flood of fans

BERLIN, July 6 (Reuters)Berlin's airports are preparing for a flood of travellers on Sunday as World Cup fans, officials and dignitaries scramble to return home after the final between Italy and France.

Some 120,000 passengers are expected to pass through Berlin's hubs on Sunday, around twice as many as on an average day, the city's three international airports said today.

Berlin's biggest airport, Tegel, expects to deal with 6,000 passengers in one hour after the end of the match -- record levels and a likely cause of lengthy delays.

The smaller Schoenefeld airport, east of Berlin's centre, will send off a Boeing jumbo jet loaded with Brazilian fans heading for Sao Paulo, while the regional airport Tempelhof will bid farewell to travellers on private jets.

Germany's capital and its largest city with some 3.4 million inhabitants plans to combine its three airports -- a relic of its divided past -- into a large new airport on the Schoenefeld site, to be opened by 2011.

REUTERS SHB KP2305