German aviation can only slowly recover from the effects of the corona pandemic. The current figures from German air traffic control show that around 2021 million flights were carried out according to instrument rules in 1,67.
In direct comparison with the performance of the first Corona year (2020) an increase of around 14 percent, but it was still around half the volume of 2019. The DFS stated that there was such a low volume last at the beginning of the 1990s -Years have been.
If you look at the course of 2021, you can quickly see the effects of travel restrictions and lockdowns. German aviation got off to an extremely weak start in the previous year and only picked up speed from the middle of the year. The strongest results were seen between July and October 2021. According to DFS, there were around 208.000 flight movements in the last-mentioned calendar month. There was no more in any other single month.
The typical winter decline became noticeable from November 2021, but the performance in the previous year fell to “only” 175.000 flights. In comparison with the pre-crisis period, demand initially fell more slowly. In December 2021, Germany was around 25 percent lower than in 2019. Around 174.700 movements were counted.
Frankfurt am Main was the most frequently used airport with 260.000 take-offs and landings. However, the first place on the podium is only a weak consolation, because in direct comparison with the pre-crisis period you have lost about half of all Movements. Munich recorded a minus of 64 percent to 150.000 take-offs and landings and Berlin was just behind with a decrease of 63 percent to 100.000 movements.
DFS Managing Director Arndt Schoenemann is of the opinion, in view of the “bare figures”, that the “pandemic is far from over” and at the moment the German air traffic control system assumes that “we will probably not reach the pre-crisis level again until 2025”.