Munich Airport is in a terrible crisis because of the corona virus. Real recovery is likely to be a lot longer than after September 11, 2001.
- The corona virus has a firm grip on Munich and leads to falling flight numbers.
- Munich Airport is in crisis mode.
- How bad the crisis is affecting the airport is still difficult to assess at the moment.
Munich - "Munich Airport in crisis mode" the airport's press department overwrites the current situation. In fact, there is nothing left to compliment here: All the figures are in a steep descent , as can be seen from the interim report published on Friday. There are "massive traffic declines in all areas".
The number of take-offs and landings in March decreased continuously. In the current week, it is less than ten percent of the same period last year. On Friday, just 90 planes took off and landed - instead of the usual 1000. Over 100 planes are parked.
Empty at Munich Airport.
© AFP / CHRISTOF STACHE
Coronavirus: Number of passengers at Munich Airport drops sharply
The number of passengers fell even more - to only five percent of normal traffic. That is 6,000 passengers instead of the usual 130,000. Most of the shops at the airport are closed, and there are just a handful of flights on the giant display boards. No wonder that the new airport boss Jost Lammers has to react: with a savings program .
The aim is to secure liquidity for the airport. Good numbers from 2019 help here. Planned investments such as the construction of a new group headquarters near Nordallee were put on hold, as was the construction of a park center west and a new budget hotel also on Nordallee. In addition, material and personnel costs would be strictly limited. What this means in concrete terms, thousands of employees at the airport suspect: short-time work .
Munich Airport: Difficult to assess the situation
Negotiations are ongoing between the management and the works council for the Flughafen München GmbH and Aerogate divisions (a total of 7,500 employees). There is even a corresponding company agreement with the handler Aerogate: 2,500 employees will receive short-time work benefit retrospectively as of March 1, which will be increased to 90 percent of the net wage. Both sides are satisfied with the current desolate situation.
Airport boss Lammers is currently unable to reliably estimate when the situation will improve. It would probably take "significantly longer" than the crises after September 11, 2001 and the financial crisis of 2008.
In the middle of the global corona crisis, an influencer has launched a challenge to the new virus, which is supposed to consist of licking toilet glasses.
How long should Germany stay at home? And how can it go on afterwards? The ethically very delicate proposal to isolate risk groups causes controversy.
List of rubric lists: © AFP / CHRISTOF STACHE
