“National solo efforts”
Lufthansa boss sees Germany in aviation decline
October 13, 2024, 3:01 p.m
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First of all, Ryanair is significantly thinning out its offering in Germany. Then Eurowings also reduces significantly. Carsten Spohr, head of Eurowings’ parent company Lufthansa, criticizes the “extremely increased” costs and is putting pressure on the German blending quota for e-fuels.
Lufthansa boss Carsten Spohr expects further cuts to the flight schedules of the aviation industry in Germany. “I am very worried about the connection of our business location,” Spohr told “Bild am Sonntag”. “The extremely increased state costs in air transport are leading to a further shrinking offer. More and more airlines are avoiding German airports or canceling important connections.”
Recently, the Irish low-cost airline Ryanair and the Lufthansa subsidiary Eurowings canceled numerous flights. Both airlines cite the high cost burden at German airports as the reason for the cancellations. For months, the aviation industry has been complaining about high costs such as flight fees and the air traffic tax, which was increased in May, as well as fees for security checks and air traffic control.
Spohr criticized the fact that additional government regulations were already planned: “Further national solo efforts have already been decided on for the next few years – for example an admixture quota for e-fuels, which, however, does not yet exist in sufficient quantities. As a result, it is falling in international comparison the quality of connections to many important economic regions.” E-fuels are synthetically produced carbon-based fuels that are intended to reduce climate-damaging CO2 emissions from aircraft.
The BDL industry association is campaigning for revenue from the increased aviation tax to be used to promote alternative aviation fuels. He refers to the coalition agreement of the traffic light government. It says: “We will use revenue from the aviation tax to promote the production and use of CO2-neutral, electricity-based aviation fuels as well as for research, development and fleet modernization in aviation.”