The federal government only wants to support “international” airports

February 12, 2021, 1:36 a.m.

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The federal and state governments want to jointly relieve the German airports in the corona crisis. But the federal government wants to concentrate on the internationally declared airports. In the smaller package, the federal government also includes already decided support.

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In the Corona crisis, the federal government wants to support the commercial airports in Germany that have been declared as “international” with one-time grants of 200 million euros. This provides for a package of measures by the federal government, which the finance and transport ministries agreed on Thursday, according to information from the German press agency. For small regional airports, on the other hand, only relief is provided for fees.

The federal states had previously declared their general readiness for a 50-50 model proposed by Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer (CSU). It should actually be about a billion euros in total. The countries had already provided 500 million. The approval of the federal government was still pending. But now the help is less.

The package provides for the federal government to provide a one-time grant to the twelve “international” airports in which it is not involved. According to a paper, these are the airports of Bremen, Dresden, Düsseldorf, Erfurt, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hanover, Leipzig, Münster / Osnabrück, Nuremberg, Saarbrücken and Stuttgart.

Specifically, it is about the reimbursement of costs for keeping airports open at the beginning of the pandemic. According to the paper, the prerequisite for the federal support measure is that the respective state promises a grant of the same amount, no dividends are distributed for 2020 and no bonuses are paid to managing directors and board members. The federal government wants to provide 200 million euros for this.

Further support was decided beforehand

The package that has now been decided also includes aid that has already been agreed. The federal government also counts the financial support for the three airports Berlin-Brandenburg, Cologne / Bonn and Munich, in which it is involved, as part of the airport rescue package. The federal government had already promised to do this, however, it is about more than 400 million euros for the years 2020 and 2021.

The package also provides for the federal government to assume the costs of air navigation services for locations classified as “regional”. So far, these airports have borne these costs themselves and cannot always pass them on to the airlines in full. In the 2021 budget, 20 million euros are earmarked for this support measure. Furthermore, the federally owned Deutsche Flugsicherung GmbH will receive equity support of 300 million euros in the current year. These measures are also already known.

Previously, according to reports, there were different views on corona funds for locations that were already in deficit before the crisis. However, the classification as “international” says nothing about the financial situation. Among the airports that are now supported, there are quite a few that have been subsidized with millions for years.

The industry association ADV recently again described the dramatic economic situation of all airports after the collapse in traffic in the corona pandemic before the consultations. The entire aviation system is on the verge of collapse and many airports are on the verge of collapse. According to the association, every fourth of the approximately 180,000 direct jobs at the airports is threatened.