Airport crisis in Bavaria: Munich is fighting against flight cancellations!

Airport crisis in Bavaria: Munich is fighting against flight cancellations!

The situation in the aviation industry in Germany is becoming increasingly explosive. High taxes and declining business travel are putting a huge strain on airlines. The Bavarian airports in particular, especially Munich and Nuremberg, have to deal with noticeable cuts. Loud tz.de Airports lose important connections while airlines are forced to reduce their services. This is largely due to skyrocketing costs, which have more than doubled in recent years.

To illustrate the extent of the problem: A medium-haul flight with 150 passengers costs around 4,400 euros in taxes and fees in Munich, while in Madrid these are only 700 euros. Domestic flights are increasingly no longer profitable for airlines. This is reflected in recent decisions; Lufthansa has already canceled connections from Nuremberg to major hubs such as Munich and Zurich or replaced them with bus transport. Even Ryanair is planning to reduce its program at German airports, further exacerbating the already tense situation. BR.de reports that Lufthansa boss Carsten Spohr even names the connections from Munich to Münster/Osnabrück and Dresden as possible candidates for cancellation.

A divided aviation landscape

Passenger numbers at German airports are currently 13 percent below pre-Corona levels, while many Spanish airports are even 18 percent above. This is leading to airlines slowly turning away from domestic flights. Inflation and the weak economy have prompted companies to save money on business trips and increasingly move meetings online. As the Statista shows that ticket prices are also relatively high compared to other European countries, which further depresses the use of airlines in Germany.

Despite the difficult conditions, there are also bright spots. Tourist flights are booming, especially to destinations around the Mediterranean. Nuremberg Airport is optimistic that the high demand for holiday flights can compensate for the cancellations. The Lufthansa subsidiary Eurowings will no longer fly to four destinations from Nuremberg next summer, but there is still hope that demand will recover in the coming years.

Government under pressure

The federal government is under pressure to finally take measures to reduce the aviation tax, also known as the ticket tax. This is said to have been agreed in the coalition agreement, but has not yet been implemented. For the current year, the federal government expects revenue of around two billion euros from this tax. Carsten Spohr and Michael O'Leary, the two bosses of Lufthansa and Ryanair, agree: Flying in Germany is expensive, and this fact must be urgently addressed to ensure competitiveness.

In conclusion, it can be said that the challenges in the German aviation industry are extremely strong. The effects of the pandemic have not yet been completely overcome, and if action is not taken quickly, things could look even bleaker for airlines and airports in Germany in the future.