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Parked planes at Frankfurt Airport in spring: Air traffic summit planned for Friday
Photo:
onemorepicture / Thorsten Wagner / imago images / onemorepicture
Aviation is one of the industries hardest hit by the Corona closings.
Many of the troubled companies keep customers who are entitled to compensation for canceled tickets waiting for their money.
But now they have to pay for this tactic.
The Federal Aviation Office has imposed fines on airlines in 21 cases that did not repay the ticket costs of flights that were canceled due to Corona in due time.
This was announced by a spokesman for the "Handelsblatt".
For comparison: in 2019, the LBA did not impose any fines.
The spokesman did not provide details on the amount of the fines for the airlines concerned.
"We cannot give any more details about the amount of the fine, because the rights of those affected in the administrative offense proceedings do not permit this," he said.
The decision on the amount of the fine is "made in each individual case, taking into account the severity and frequency of the violation found".
Fraport reports a loss of 304 million euros
Above all, the state-backed Lufthansa was recently criticized because the airline had switched off automated reimbursement systems.
A company spokeswoman told the "Handelsblatt" newspaper that the automatic reimbursement option for tickets booked in travel agencies has been back in operation since September.
Customers who have booked directly with Lufthansa would have to fill out an online form for a ticket refund.
Meanwhile, the slump in passenger traffic continues to weigh heavily on airports and airlines.
The Frankfurt airport operator Fraport has now reported a loss of 304 million euros for the third quarter - significantly more than expected.
In the previous year, the company had generated a profit of 222 million euros.
The expenses for the planned reduction of thousands of jobs cost the company 280 million euros.
According to Fraport boss Stefan Schulte, the number of passengers at Frankfurt Airport in 2020 is expected to be more than 70 percent below that of the previous year.
For 2021, he expects only 35 to 45 percent of the 2019 passenger volume.
Scheuer is planning a billion-dollar airport rescue
In view of the tense situation at the airports, Federal Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer is planning a rescue package worth one billion euros.
The CSU politician said that structures had to be preserved.
At an air traffic summit on Friday, he wants to discuss a solution.
Scheuer said he was talking to Federal Finance Minister Olaf Scholz (SPD) about the emergency aid.
"Time is running out."
The federal government had already put together a rescue package worth billions for Lufthansa.
Not only small regional airports are in trouble, but also larger ones, said Scheuer.
With a passenger volume of currently 10 to 15 percent of the level before the crisis, no airport can be operated economically.
Scheuer turned against the closure of small regional airports.
It shouldn't happen that only a few airports remain in Germany.
The airport association ADV sees the airports in the "fight for survival", at the airport locations a quarter of the more than 180,000 jobs threatened with the end.
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apr / dpa
