In 13 months up to the end of April, aircraft in readiness for flight from the Ministry of Defense flew 761 times between their locations in Berlin and Cologne / Bonn – 617 of them without passengers!
81 percent empty flights!
This emerges from a response from the ministry to a request from the Greens in the Bundestag. The figures relate to the period from April 1, 2019 to April 30, 2020.
The green transport politician Stefan Gelbhaar called this practice climate-hostile and “simply crazy”. That must “be organized differently immediately,” he said.
Why are there empty flights at all?
► There are empty flights because planes are transferred to pick up passengers or return to their location after being transported, the ministry said.
► In addition, reserve planes would be made available – this is to prevent breakdowns from leading to top politicians not being able to take off.
► In addition, there are training and further education flights for the crews, where no passengers could be with them.
“Basically, all flights without passengers also serve to train the crews as part of the established training programs,” it says.
According to the Defense Ministry, the situation is likely to change soon: “With the full start of political parliamentary flight operations (…) at the Berlin-Brandenburg airfield, standby flights will no longer be necessary,” the answer said.
Gelbhaar was not satisfied with this: “The federal government could long ago use the government airport at BER,” he said.
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