Immediately before the planned air traffic summit of the federal government, the industry demanded further billions in aid from the federal government. After the airlines, the airports and the federally owned German air traffic control would now have to be refurbished with taxpayers’ money, demand representatives of industry associations who are taking part in the meeting scheduled for Friday in Berlin. In addition, prospects for pandemic-safe air traffic must be created. There is resistance to the rescue package advocated by Federal Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer (CSU).

Take on costs “There must be no irreparable structural breaks,” said the chief executive of the Federal Association of the German Aviation Industry (BDL), Matthias von Randow, of the dpa. “With the second de facto lockdown, we are facing job cuts. Of around 260. 000 Jobs alone at the German airlines and at the airports are acute around 60. 000 threatened.” The companies would have to go into massive debt because of the slump in demand. That weakens the strength for investments, for example for digitization or for more economical new aircraft reimbursement that occurred in the first lockdown by keeping the infrastructure open, said Ralph Beisel from the airport association ADV. These reserve costs amount to the sum of 740 million euros, which would primarily benefit small and medium-sized airports.

Even before the corona pandemic, the smaller airports in particular were often not on solid financial footing and repeatedly had to be subsidized or rescued.

Unprofitable and harmful structures Accordingly, there is also criticism from the VCD traffic club, which pays attention to environmentally friendly mobility. Outdated structures should not be supported with billions in aid. “Instead of expanding airports further and sinking additional funds into regional airports that were unprofitable before the pandemic, we need a socially responsible restructuring in the direction of the environmental network,” comments VCD President Kerstin Haarmann. New unconditional aid such as that from Lufthansa should no longer be available, but must be linked to climate protection.

In France, among other places, state aid has already been linked to environmental requirements.

The Greens MPs Sven-Christian Kindler and Daniela Wagner have a similar opinion. “Companies that the state is helping in this crisis must meet clear climate requirements and have a sustainable business model that is compatible with the Paris Climate Agreement. This is not the case at many regional airports.”

Help with fees According to the ADV, however, consideration should also be given to how the airports could be permanently relieved of sovereign costs that, according to the association, in others European countries would be paid by the state.

Deutsche Flugsicherung GmbH also wants to push for help. Because of the fee losses, the German air traffic control could get into liquidity problems. DFS boss Klaus-Dieter Scheurle had put the sales shortfalls up to 2025 at up to 2 billion euros. Despite a new promissory note loan for 500 million euros and cost-cutting measures, the company still needs help, which the BDL has put at 1.2 billion euros. Here, the federal government must step in as the owner: “Otherwise unrealistically high fees would have to be levied when air traffic is restarted, which the airlines would not be able to handle,” said von Randow. Rapid test strategy Airport operators such as Frankfurt Airport Manager Stefan Schulte want a different approach to people’s travel activities. “We have to find a way forward to be able to offer safe flying again”. He called for a rapid test strategy, which also requires bilateral agreements with the USA.

The BDL also advocates not looking solely at the incidence figures when assessing risk countries. The second criterion would have to be the number of people actually infected from the respective countries of origin. “According to the data available in the meantime, the import risk is concentrated in a very small number of countries – and these are not the classic holiday countries,” said von Randow.

(kbe)