In the past five years, the German aviation industry has seen 200 routes, to, from, and within Germany, being cut, according to the industry. “In 2019, there were almost 1,800 routes in, to, and within Germany that were served. That was a total of 1.7 million flights. Now, there are only about 1,600 routes left” said Jens Bischof, President of the Federal Association of the German Air Transport Industry (BDL), to the Funke Media Group (Tuesday editions).
The flights would only reach 1.4 million now. “In particular, point-to-point connections are affected, especially those from and to Berlin, Cologne-Bonn, Düsseldorf, and Stuttgart. There, aside from significant frequency reductions, between ten and twenty non-stop routes are missing, which are no longer offered from these cities” said Bischof, who is also the managing director of the airline Eurowings.
Bischof primarily sees the high taxes and fees as the reason for the development. “The location costs for air transport in Germany have doubled since 2019 due to state fees and taxes. It becomes very difficult to make a profit due to this” said the aviation president.
Currently, the seat capacity is at 84 percent of the pre-Corona level, while Europe-wide, it has already reached 108 percent. “The local air transport location is thus completely decoupled from the European development” warned Bischof. The air transport industry is at a tipping point and “risks being suffocated by the state’s tax burden.”
Even a staff reduction is not ruled out by Bischof: “The airports are under pressure due to the too low utilization of their very cost-intensive infrastructure. That one tries to cut costs and even thinks about staff reductions in the medium term, I consider possible.” For airlines, there is no way around route cuts under these conditions.
Bischof also expects further rising ticket prices for flights. “Arrivals and departures in Germany will become significantly more expensive” said the BDL president. Although the higher air traffic tax has been absorbed, but from January, the security control fee at airports will increase from 10 to 15 euros per passenger.
Furthermore, a significant increase in the costs for air traffic control is expected. The losses of air traffic control from the Corona years will be passed on to the consumers according to the federal government’s decision.
“Airlines can only pass on the burdens to their customers. Already, the margins are low. On average, an airline only makes five to ten euros per passenger” said Bischof. It is not possible to give a general percentage increase in ticket prices, but “we are in talks with the government about cost-reducing effects.