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GERMAN AIRPORT POLICY ON THE WRONG TRACK

The German government has produced an air transport policy document. The intention was originally that the airports policy statement would show how the pressing capacity problems of German airports can be resolved. But in its present form the document conveys the impression that this objective has completely fallen by the wayside and that it was written by the wrong ministry.

The Federation of German Industry (BDI) and the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHT), which were both sent copies of the draft policy statement, are united in rejecting it. The comments of the DIHT could not be clearer: "As a policy statement intended to safeguard Germany as an air transport location, the paper is totally unsuitable in its present form. It does not offer any satisfactory solutions to the capacity problems. This is not an airports policy statement but, rather, one intent on creating obstacles to air transport."

In fact the paper, which will be presented to Parliament after the summer break, contains several points which are fatal to air transport and Germany as a business location. Just a few examples will be given here. To start with, the draft document proposes that noise threshold values should be made "significantly tougher" in the protected zones around airports. The fact that the vast majority of the planes flown to German airports by the airlines are low-noise Chapter III aircraft is not acknowledged. Night flights are to be restricted. The fact that manufacturing industry may be reliant on nocturnal transportation of goods that have been manufactured during the day is totally ignored. Again, the existing capacity problems of German airports appear not to have entered into the authors' deliberations. Are the nocturnal cargo flights to be forced on the airports during the day when they are already bursting at the seams? Expecting transcontinental or intercontinental goods to now be transported by rail is unrealistic, even if this has been the dream of the Greens for years. The proportion of goods being transported by rail has been in continuous decline for years. To industry, time is money. That is why they use planes to transport their goods and services. High-speed transportation of goods and highly flexible deployment of staff, which is only possible if the means exist to achieve the required mobility, create jobs. Any impairment of this mobility will either destroy jobs or else promote their relocation to economic areas which do have acceptable transport connections.

The DIHT does recognise one or two positive aspects of the policy document, namely, the paper acknowledges the importance of air transport to the economy as a whole and it proposes that no new residential buildings should be built in the immediate vicinity of airports, in "protected zone 1". But for a paper which is supposed to secure the future of the economy in a global environment this is not enough.

The German economy is export-oriented. Again and again over the years foreign trade has proved to be the engine of economic growth. Exporting means that goods and services which are produced here are sold abroad. That is why the German economy relies on an ever more capable range of air transport options. Making this important mode of transport more expensive or even reducing its capacity would cause permanent damage to the economy. Having rapid transport connections is a priceless advantage in today's global markets. The globalisation of the economy is a fact. This the German government has recognised. But the implications of that fact are not reflected in the German government's airports policy statement. Instead, air transport is to be made more expensive and its capacity reduced. That is why the DIHT is asking Reinhard Klimmt, the federal minister for transport, public works and housing, to re-work the document completely. There is nothing further to be added.

From page 4 of FLUG REVUE 9/2000