Have the article read by OpenAI (Beta). Please note that AI translations may take some time to process.Frankfurt (dpa) – German airlines Lufthansa and Condor are facing increasingly unfair competition due to a significant rise in taxes and fees, Condor CEO Peter Gerber said on Monday at a business event at Frankfurt Airport.
In the past four years, the cost volume from air traffic control, aviation security checks and air traffic tax has doubled from 3.5 billion euros to 7 billion euros per year, he said.
International airlines are increasingly avoiding German airports, leading to a loss of global connections, Gerber said. He noted that the German recovery rate is 82 percent compared to the pre-pandemic year 2019, while most other European countries have seen growth in air traffic beyond that level.
Lufthansa’s Chief Human Resources Officer Michael Niggemann voiced his opposition to state mandates for the use of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF), saying that since the system only records departures within the European Union, it creates competitive disadvantages with non-European hubs.
From 2025, airlines departing from the EU are required to cover an average of 2 percent of their fuel from SAF, with this to rise to 70 percent by 2050. This so-called RefuelEU aviation initiative – aimed at decreasing CO2 emissions in the aviation sector – is part of the FitFor55 package under the bloc’s Green Deal, its cornerstone climate policy.
Lufthansa said insufficient SAF production in the future will make it a significant cost factor, and that EU and German state requirements for the use of synthetic, electricity-produced fuels are unattainable. (2 September)
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