The Iran war and a week-long strike by Lufthansa pilots have led to significantly fewer people flying in Germany during April. Passenger traffic experienced a "massive" collapse, the German Airport Association ADV announced on Wednesday. A total of approximately 1.65 million passengers were missing. The pilots' strikes at Lufthansa alone "tore a hole of nearly one million passengers."
The airport association described the situation as a "dangerous confluence" of the ongoing Middle East crisis, escalating strikes, and flight cancellations resulting from exploding kerosene prices. The current figures represent an "unmistakable alarm signal," explained ADV Chief Executive Ralph Beisel. "Continuous strikes, geopolitical crises and drastically rising airline operating costs are hitting German airports with full force – and are tearing deep gaps in our country's connectivity."
Germany has been particularly severely affected by the "extraordinary accumulation of external shocks." In addition to global crises, there are "homegrown burdens of a high-tax location," Beisel criticized. Airlines are responding with capacity reductions and route cancellations.
The ADV Chief Executive pointed to Irish budget carrier Ryanair, which recently announced a reduction of its flights to and from Berlin in the winter schedule by half. Ryanair justified this decision based on the high fees at Berlin Airport and the taxation of air traffic in Germany.
Beisel called on the federal government for the "immediate suspension of the air traffic tax." In the medium term, it must be "at least" halved.
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