As of: January 31, 2024, 10:07 a.m
By: Lukas Schierlinger
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What if the doping control takes a little longer?
Before the 2024 European Championship, possible night flights for football stars are coming into focus.
Also in Munich.
Munich – The FC Bayern players learned the hard way in February 2021 that life as a professional footballer can be hard.
After a 1-0 win in the Berlin Olympic Stadium in the evening, the record champions wanted to travel on to the Club World Cup in Qatar.
Because the take-off clearance was only given at 12:03 a.m., the responsible Brandenburg ministry referred to the current ban on night flights at Berlin Airport.
The FC Bayern stars were stuck there for more than seven hours.
Board boss Karl-Heinz Rummenigge raged: “Those responsible have no idea what they have done to our team.” This scenario is unlikely to be repeated at the 2024 European Football Championship in Germany.
Night flight ban lifted across the board for EM 2024?
“Doesn’t provide for the concept”
The Federal Ministry of Transport's “National Mobility Concept” envisages suspending night flight bans in the vicinity of the venues, was the tenor of several media reports in January 2024. The aim was to enable the teams to travel flexibly after the late games (kick-off: 9 p.m.), it was said.
Possible delays such as penalty shootouts and doping controls also played a role.
When asked by our editorial team, a spokesman for the Federal Ministry of Digital and Transport (BMDV) contradicts the representations: “The federal mobility concept does not provide for the lifting of night flight bans at German airports.
Such reports are not accurate.”
Germany's national soccer players want to travel through the tournament for as long as possible at the 2024 European Championship.
© IMAGO/Joaquim Ferreira
Purely formally, the federal government cannot make such a decision.
“Rather, the aviation authorities of the federal states determine the operating times of airfields.
In doing so, they weigh up interests such as residents’ rights and environmental concerns.” There is a ban on night flights between midnight and 5 a.m. at Munich Airport.
Things should also be much quieter in the “off-peak hours” (10 p.m. to midnight and 5 a.m. to 6 a.m.).
However, the Freising citizens' association has been calling for the ban on night flights in Erdinger Moos to be extended for several years.
“Undisturbed night’s sleep” at Munich Airport
“During the so-called core time (from midnight to 5 a.m.), only night airmail and survey flights by German air traffic control are generally permitted.
The only exceptions are emergency and assistance flights, landings for flight safety reasons and flights in justified exceptional cases, which the BayStMB as the responsible authority has approved in the special public interest.
In the off-peak hours (from 10 p.m. to midnight and from 5 a.m. to 6 a.m.), only aircraft that are listed in the BMVI’s so-called “bonus list” are allowed to fly.”
Source: munich-airport.de
Football games in Munich have also already been declared as “exceptional cases”.
“Justified exceptional cases” that prompt the Bavarian Ministry of Transport to grant permission to take off at night can include weather conditions, technical problems, or the arrival and departure of foreign state guests.
The return transport of FC Bayern's Champions League opponents and their supporters has also been declared an exceptional case in the past.
What does this mean for the European Championship?
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“The BMDV assumes that the responsible state aviation authorities will handle any applications submitted responsibly, taking all relevant aspects into account,” warns the ministry spokesman.
A total of six European Championship games will take place in Munich's Allianz Arena.
The opening game between Germany and Scotland, another group game and a semi-final start at 9 p.m.
Even without doping controls, it would hardly be possible for the European Championship stars to take off from Munich Airport before midnight.
The BMDV spokesman explains: “In each of the regions designated for the games, there is at least one airport with 24-hour operations available.” From the Allianz Arena to Nuremberg Airport – there is no ban on night flights here – it is around 180 kilometers.
EM 2024 also in Munich: Rail should be “number 1 means of transport”.
According to the Parliamentary State Secretary in the Ministry of Transport, Oliver Luksic (FDP), the train should be “number 1 means of transport” for fans.
14 special trains with around 10,000 additional seats are planned every day.
Long-distance fan tickets cost 29.90 euros per trip, local transport to and from the stadium is included in the admission ticket. “Fans from other European countries are offered an Interrail pass with a 25 percent discount,” Luksic explained.
This means fans from 32 countries can travel to Germany.
The national teams should also travel in a climate-friendly manner wherever possible: special train trips are planned for them.
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