The Leipzig / Halle and Dresden airports need state financial injections to compensate for the collapsed passenger business in the Corona crisis.
Leipzig / Halle / Dresden – The Leipzig / Halle and Dresden airports need a financial injection worth millions from their state owners to compensate for the passenger business that has collapsed in the Corona crisis.
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Dresden Airport needs a state financial injection due to the drop in passenger numbers. © Robert Michael / dpa-Zentralbild / dpa
Subsidies of up to 27 million euros are planned, as a spokesman for the Saxony-Anhalt Ministry of Finance said on Tuesday.
The financial experts in the Magdeburg state parliament have already agreed to contribute five million euros. This should cover the share of the state and the city of Halle, which together hold almost a fifth of Mitteldeutsche Flughafen AG. The Free State of Saxony has also pledged its support. Previously, the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung reported about the help.
Due to the global spread of the corona virus, passenger traffic had slumped at many airports since spring. According to the Mitteldeutsche Flughafen AG, the airports in Leipzig / Halle and Dresden counted around 573,000 passengers in the first half of the year, 69 percent fewer than in the same period of the previous year.
In the meantime, almost nothing flew any more. In June, the decline was 99 percent.
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Yawning emptiness at Leipzig / Halle Airport: significantly fewer passengers are flying due to Corona. © Jan Woitas / dpa-Zentralbild / dpa
By contrast, the freight volume rose by four percent to 634,000 tons in the first half of the year. Halle / Leipzig Airport is the second largest cargo airport in Germany after the Frankfurt am Main hub.
The growth in the freight business was unable to compensate for the complete elimination of the passenger business, including parking tickets, restaurants and shopping, according to the Magdeburg Ministry of Finance. So far, the shareholders have only contributed to the costs of investments. For the first time, the airport receives liquidity assistance from its owners.
The grants are state aid, for which the EU Commission has already given the go-ahead. The supervisory board should decide in September whether the cash injection will actually be granted.
Political resistance comes from the co-governing Greens in Saxony-Anhalt. “Leipzig / Halle Airport is a regional airport in terms of passenger numbers, the numbers of which are declining, even before Corona,” said Greens parliamentary leader Cornelia Lüddemann (52).
Now is the ideal time to close the passenger airport instead of investing millions more. There is also protest from Leipzigwhich is similar in principle. The Greens in the city council are collecting signatures with an action alliance to prevent the planned expansion of the freight hub.
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