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Two planes at Berlin-Tegel Airport: Which short-haul routes are particularly popular - and how many could you replace?
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Photo: Rüdiger Wölk / imago images
"In the long run, there should no longer be short-haul flights" - with this demand, the Greens' candidate for chancellor, Annalena Baerbock, sparked a heated debate. Figures from the Federal Statistical Office now show how popular the short flights are. Last year, a good every second passenger flight was on a route with a distance of up to 1,000 kilometers (53 percent). Their share was thus similar to the year before the pandemic (54 percent). The survey was based on flights that started or ended at German main airports.
But which short-haul routes are flown most often?
This is shown by figures from the Federal Association of the German Aviation Industry.
In 2019 - which is for the time being the last "normal" year in air traffic is much more meaningful than last year - the route Munich - Berlin (flight distance: 481 kilometers) was the most frequently flown short haul, just before the Frankfurt - Berlin route (433 kilometers ).
A look at the four most popular routes shows not only that very short flight connections are still popular, but also that there is a lack of alternatives.
Turnstile is looking for ICE connection
Munich Airport is the start and destination of three of the five short-haul routes that are mostly flown.
The big problem with the airport far from the city gates: It has no direct connection to the long-distance rail network.
If you fly via Munich, you have two options: Either take a comfortable feeder flight - or travel by train for several hours to one of the city's long-distance train stations to change to the S-Bahn and continue to the airport.
Regardless of whether it is an important business trip or a flight on vacation, for practical reasons almost no one decides to take the train to the flight.
In 2019, according to BDL figures, 21 percent of passengers between Munich and Berlin were transferring passengers - with an ICE stop at Munich Airport and special Sprinter trains, this percentage could be further reduced.
But a connection to the ICE network is not in sight.
The required rail route is still not included in the Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan.
Another three of the five main routes show weaknesses in German transport policy.
The fastest ICE, for example, needs a little less than four hours to travel from Frankfurt to Berlin.
However, rail connections are only considered a real alternative to air travel if the journey takes less than three hours.
Above this mark, the aircraft is in front, below that the train from city center to city center is usually faster - after all, there is no need to travel to the airport or wait at the security checkpoint and at the gate.
Between Frankfurt and Berlin, the ICE is neither the faster option for those who change trains nor for a classic connection.
Berlin-Frankfurt in 2:15 hours
This also applies to the routes from Düsseldorf (488 kilometers) and Hamburg to Munich (600 kilometers), whose travel times by train are just under five and around five and a half hours.
It doesn't have to be like that.
An analysis by SPIEGEL shows that journeys between major German cities could be significantly shorter.
The prerequisite would be an ICE network that, like that of the French TGV, is continuously expanded to a speed of 300 km / h with the exception of a few kilometers from the start and destination stations.
This is an exception in this country, as only 38 percent of the relatively new high-speed route between Munich and Berlin is permitted for 300 km / h - a consistently high speed and free travel would have enormous effects.
With a non-stop connection at 300 km / h, the Berlin-Frankfurt route could be completed in 2:15 hours, and the route from Berlin to Munich in just over two and a half hours. And the ICE would also cover the distance from Hamburg to Munich in three and a half hours instead of five and a half hours - even with three intermediate stops in Nuremberg, Kassel and Hanover. The train would therefore be a real, climate-friendly alternative to short-haul flights. According to the Federal Environment Agency, trains produce less than a quarter of the greenhouse gases on a flight per passenger kilometer.
After all, the federally owned company wants to set up more high-speed lines. Within the next ten to twelve years, their number should increase by 50 percent, said rail board member Ronald Pofalla at the end of May the newspapers of the Funke media group, "from now 1000 to 1500 kilometers". According to this, there should be more speed on the routes between Stuttgart and Ulm, Frankfurt and Mannheim as well as Hanover and Hamburg. According to the information, an Intercity Express (ICE) can travel at least 250 kilometers per hour on high-speed lines, often faster.
Often the more climate-damaging option in this country is still often the more attractive form of travel.
German transport politicians have neglected to invest in a large high-speed network that is separated from the rest of rail traffic - and are instead discussing the possible increase in the cost of short-haul flights.
with dpa