The Bundeswehr's A400M transport aircraft is located on the premises of Tactical Air Force Squadron 73 "Steinhoff". © Jens Büttner/dpa
The military leadership of the largest air force maneuver in the history of NATO assumes that there will be little impact on civilian air traffic over Germany. "This will be in the range of minutes at most," assured the inspector of the German Air Force, Ingo Gerhartz, on Wednesday at a press conference in Berlin.
Berlin - Germany is leading the ten-day maneuver "Air Defender 23", which begins next Monday (June 12). 25 countries - mainly from NATO - are involved with 250 aircraft and almost 10,000 soldiers. About 2000 flights are planned.
The director of the U.S. National Guard, Michael Loh, also does not expect major disruptions to civilian air traffic. "We're expecting minimal disruption," he said.
The air traffic controllers' union GdF had previously made a different forecast. "The military exercise "Air Defender" will of course have a massive impact on the course of civil aviation," said its chairman Matthias Maas of the German Press Agency. He referred to a scenario calculated by the European air navigation service provider Eurocontrol, which shows up to 50,000 minutes of delay per manoeuvre day. Dpa
