Federal government agrees on financial aid for important airports

BERLIN (dpa-AFX) – In the Corona crisis, the federal government wants to support the major major airports in Germany with one-time grants. 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 package provides for the federal government to provide a one-time grant to twelve important 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.

The federal states had previously declared their general readiness for a 50-50 model proposed by Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer (CSU). The overall package is about well over a billion euros, it said.

The package also provides for the federal government to cover the costs of air traffic control services for small regional airports. So far, the small airports have borne these costs themselves and cannot always pass them on to the airlines. In the 2021 budget, 20 million euros are earmarked for this support measure.

The package also includes financial support for the three airports Berlin-Brandenburg, Cologne / Bonn and Munich, in which the federal government itself is involved. This has already been promised by the federal government, it is about 400 million euros for the years 2020 and 2021. Furthermore, the federally owned Deutsche Flugsicherung GmbH will receive equity support of 300 million euros in the current year.

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, one in four of the approximately 180,000 direct jobs at airports is threatened./hoe/DP/he

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