The tourism industry is particularly suffering from the Corona crisis.
The associations are now calling on EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for help.
Including Munich Airport.
Airport - the collapse of an industry that has been emerging for years: the tourism sector and with it aviation are more severely affected by the Corona crisis than many other branches of the economy.
After a slight recovery in the summer due to the travel season, the numbers are already falling again.
Travel warnings and quarantine requirements keep vacationers and business travelers from getting on the plane.
Tourism, business and mobility associations across Europe are calling on EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to implement a Europe-wide uniform approach.
The head of Munich Airport, Jost Lammers, who is also President of the European Airport Association ACI, is among the signatories.
At the federal level, the airport association ADV is demanding quick financial aid.
The European travel industry criticizes the different regulations in the pandemic.
"Internationally different framework conditions for quarantine and entry regulations lead to less and less mobility," warns Lammers.
“The entire aviation industry therefore urgently needs a uniform and transparent international set of rules for safe travel.
Confidence in air traffic must be strengthened again. "
Measures only work if they are implemented across the EU
In the letter to von der Leyen available to our newspaper, the industry emphasizes that it "fully supports" the coordination framework proposed by the Commission to contain the pandemic.
However, this must be accepted and fully implemented by all member states.
If this does not happen, "any chance of possible reconstruction would be nullified".
This would be "an imminent threat to the livelihoods of the more than 27 million Europeans who work in the sector".
Not only airlines and airports are affected, but also hotels, restaurants, tour operators, bus operators, logisticians, campsites, holiday parks and tourism offices.
The letter speaks of a "chaotic situation" in which von der Leyen had to intervene.
It is particularly criticized that “cross-border trips within the EU and Schengen area are still treated differently without adequate justification.
Extreme travel restrictions - especially quarantines - are anything but risk-based.
They are not an effective means of fighting the epidemic. "
Travel in Europe must not be demonized
Active calls from governments to avoid travel even within Europe “demonize our industries and an integral part of the European way of life.
That has to stop."
The ADV announced that the German airports should now fear for their existence.
In fact, the aviation and travel industry is in a second lockdown with a passenger volume of less than 20 percent.
Suggestions for a test strategy for passengers have "more or less gone unheard", is the criticism of the previous strategy to contain the pandemic.
In a first step, the maintenance costs from the lockdown period in spring, during which the airports maintained their infrastructure, would have to be reimbursed, explains ADV CEO Ralph Beisel.
He put the cost of this at 740 million euros
The federal government and the Federal Council had already indicated their approval for this step.
Federal Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer (CSU) has invited to an air transport summit on November 6th.
Corona: Airports need aid
Further help for the mostly publicly owned airport operators is necessary, argues the ADV.
In the current and next year, the revenue of the airports fell by more than six billion euros, the association warned.
At almost all locations, the liquid funds only lasted until the second half of 2021. One in four of the 180,000 jobs is directly at risk.
Despite the existing federal framework, hardly any aid has been received so far.
The situation at Moos Airport is also dramatic.
The passenger volume in the first nine months of 2020 was only around 30 percent of the previous year's level.
In the first three quarters, FMG recorded 61 percent fewer take-offs and landings.
The effects in the cargo area are less than in the passage.
Only twelve million passengers are expected at Erdinger Moos this year.
Passenger numbers collapse a second time
The number of passengers dropped from January to September by around 27 million to a little more than ten million, which is almost 73 percent below the previous year's figure.
The number of take-offs and landings fell by almost 200,000 in the same period. So far, around 123,000 flight movements have been counted in the current year, a decrease of 61 percent.
In August, the main travel month, 880,000 passengers were counted.
With the increasing number of infections, the incidence fell again in September - to 730,000 travelers - just 16 percent compared to the same month last year.
FMG boss Lammers is “not expecting a trend reversal in the next few months”.
with dpa