BERLIN, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- A record number of travelers has been received in 2018 here in the Germany's capital Tegel airport, the airport's operator announced on Thursday.

The overloaded Tegel airport received last year around 22 million travelers, an increase of 700,000 on the previous record year 2016, German news agency dpa cited the airport's operator as reporting.

The number of air travelers in 2017 scaled a little bit back, because of the insolvency of German airline Air Berlin. Meanwhile, Easyjet, Eurowings and other airlines companies have filled the void.

The centrally-located Tegel was built during the Cold War with a capacity of only 2.7 million annual passengers. It is due to close months after the new airport Berlin-Brandenburg Airport (BER) opens.

BER started its construction in 2006 and was originally planned to open in 2011, but then the opening was delayed and postponed many times for construction reasons, technical problems as well as wrong planning.

The latest plan of operations at BER is set to begin in 2020.

Engelbert Luetke Daldrup, BER's chief executive officer, rejected speculation that the new airport would not have the necessary capacity to deal with the growing numbers of air travelers.

"We're starting at BER with a capacity of 22 to 27 million in the main terminal and a further six million in Terminal 2," he said.