Hanover / Bremen (dpa / lni) – The joint corona aid from the federal and state governments for 15 large airports in Germany should also benefit the Hanover, Bremen and Münster / Osnabrück airports. Lower Saxony wants to participate in the financing of the long-discussed support for Hanover-Langenhagen, it said on Friday from the Ministry of Economics. Further discussions are now to be held with the federal government about the exact implementation.
In principle, the proposed co-financing will be supported. One would like that the previous Lower Saxony own contributions are taken into account. Minister Bernd Althusmann (CDU) declared: “In a next step, the federal government must now quickly negotiate the structure of the aid with the federal states so that the funds reach the ailing airports as quickly as possible.”
The federal-state package is about the reimbursement of costs for keeping the airports open at the beginning of the pandemic. At that time, normal air traffic was practically at a standstill – but there were still expenses for readiness, building management and energy. For this purpose, non-repayable grants should now flow. “Especially at the beginning of the corona pandemic, the airports made a decisive contribution to equipping them with medical goods and bringing travelers back,” Althusmann explained the support.
Aid from the Lower Saxony budget itself had already gone to Hanover-Langenhagen, Braunschweig-Wolfsburg and some smaller locations.
Bremen Airport recently pointed out that, as a system-relevant partner, it had been maintaining flight operations since March to ensure cargo and ambulance flights at all times. Since the first lockdown, however, the income has decreased drastically, while the expenditure has continued steadily. Therefore, a loss of around 20 million euros will be recorded in 2020.
The federal government wants to concentrate on large airports. In addition to the payments of around 400 million euros to those with federal participation – Berlin, Munich and Cologne-Bonn – 200 million euros are for Hanover, Bremen and Münster / Osnabrück as well as Dresden, Düsseldorf, Erfurt, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Leipzig, Nuremberg, Saarbrücken and Stuttgart planned. Münster / Osnabrück Airport is in North Rhine-Westphalia, the largest shareholders are Stadtwerke Münster and the Steinfurt district.
The prerequisite for federal support is that the federal states each provide a grant of the same amount. In addition, no dividends are to be distributed for 2020 and no bonuses are to be paid to managing directors and board members of the operating companies.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210212-99-409309 / 3
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