The Airport Association ADV is visibly pleased with the announcement by the Federal Minister of Transport that an air traffic summit will be convened on November 6th. This would give hope for quick financial injections. And given the dramatic situation at Germany's airports, they are more necessary than ever.

The prospects for the airports have increasingly deteriorated due to the tightened quarantine regulations and new government travel restrictions. The situation in early autumn is much worse than hoped for at the beginning of summer. The booking numbers would also show no improvement. “With a passenger volume of less than 20 percent compared to the pre-Corona period, the aviation and travel industry is in fact in a second lockdown. All appeals and offers for an intensified test strategy for air travelers went more or less unheard ”, criticized the airport association.

And demands in step the compensation of the storage costs in the amount of 740 million euros. “The continued existence of many airports is at risk due to the dramatic collapse in traffic. The airport locations have got into an existence-threatening crisis through no fault of their own. It was precisely during the tough lockdown that the airports' indispensable function became apparent. A first important step would be the assumption of the lockdown costs amounting to 740 million euros, ”said ADV CEO Ralph Beisel.

Corona-related slump in traffic - lockdown will in fact continue until 2021

Due to the corona pandemic, traffic at the airports almost completely came to a standstill. By the end of September, German airports will be missing over 150 million passengers. The traffic figures are less than 20 percent of the previous year's figures. Travel restrictions, restrictive quarantine rules and inadequate test strategies affect the resumption of flight operations. In the winter months, the question of survival arises for the first airports. A noticeable recovery is not expected before early summer 2021. For the coming year, most locations are expecting less than half of the number of travelers compared to 2019. That means, instead of 250, only just under 120 million passengers at German airports.

Development of total revenues and annual deficits

Due to the ongoing slump in air traffic, many airports and numerous service companies at the locations are threatened. The annual turnover of ADV airports in 2019 was just under 6,5 billion euros. The ADV airports are currently losing 10 million euros in revenue every day. The total loss of sales from March to the end of September 2020 already adds up to over 2 billion euros. For 2020 as a whole, ADV is forecasting a drop in revenue of around 3,6 billion euros. For the coming year 2021, revenue of just 3,9 billion euros is expected compared to total sales of around 6,5 billion euros in 2019.