Content
- VDF New Year’s Reception
- Draft of an Ordinance Amending the Aviation Security Charges Ordinance
- Aviation security in 2022
- Eurocontrol Analysis 2022 and Outlook 2023
- Ordinary VDF General Meeting
VDF New Year’s Reception
This year’s New Year’s Reception took place in the new premises of the Airport Club in the Frankfurt Airport Center on 19 January 2023. After a break due to Corona, a very pleasing number of members and guests ensured a lively atmosphere, good conversations and plenty of discussion. This was already ensured by the guest of the day, Ministerialrat Dr. Sven Berger, Head of Division B 3 at the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Home Affairs.
Dr. Berger gave a comprehensive overview of the projects currently running in the BMI and especially in his department, especially on the topics of background checks and aviation security training regulations, which are of course of particular interest to the VDF members.
The Federal Ministry of the Interior has undertaken a number of activities to facilitate the verification requirements, the problems of which have been sufficiently pointed out by the VDF and discussed in a joint working group. From Dr. Berger’s words it was clear that adjustments should be made soon.
Dr Berger was not yet able to make any further statements on the subject of the Aviation Security Training Ordinance. Here the BMI complies with the wishes of the associations, including the VDF, to discuss the present draft together. This will take place in Berlin in mid-February.
The response to the event was extremely positive among the participating members and guests. Chairman Bernd Stomphorst was therefore very pleased to thank Dr Berger for his participation and his committed and lively lecture as well as his enjoyment of the discussion.
Draft of an ordinance amending the Aviation Security Charges Ordinance (LuftSiGebV)
Dr Berger only mentioned one topic in passing during the New Year’s reception, namely the amendment of the Aviation Security Charges Ordinance. A draft bill is available in this regard.
It amends the existing Aviation Security Fees Ordinance of 2007 with regard to all fee-relevant public services in the area of aviation security; the aim is, in particular, to introduce official acts not yet covered by fees due to innovations in EU law, as well as to make possible a cost-covering collection of fees that is currently no longer guaranteed in many cases – but is legally required. The latter applies in particular to the aviation security fee, whose current upper fee limit of 10 euros, unchanged since 1999, can no longer guarantee the legally prescribed full refinancing of costs at all German airports; the result would be an advantage for cost-intensive airports through a (hidden) subsidy. With the increase of the fee framework, a previously tolerated subsidy is thus ended and, in particular, a sharp increase in the volume of subsidies is prevented in the future.
The associations will be given the opportunity to comment. The VDF management will review the documents provided and give the members the opportunity to comment on them in order to be able to make a coordinated statement.
Air transport safety in 2022
The German Air Transport Association addresses this issue in its facts and background on German air transport and states that flying in 2022 was very safe in Germany, Europe and worldwide, as it has been in the past. The number of fatal accidents in civil aviation continues to decline in the long term, although the number of passengers is increasing in the long-term trend. However, the year was also marked by the recovery of air traffic after two years of the Corona pandemic.
2022 was one of the safest years in the history of commercial civil aviation. According to the independent analysts of the Aviation Safety Network, there were only twelve accidents involving civil aircraft worldwide, in which a total of 205 people lost their lives. A total of 188 passengers or crew members lost their lives in passenger aircraft accidents worldwide. No passenger aircraft crashed in Germany or the EU. A further 17 crew members or passengers died in accidents involving cargo aircraft worldwide. These figures do not include accidents involving military aircraft or smaller aircraft with fewer than 14 passenger seats on board.
The most serious accident occurred on 21 March 2022 in China. A China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737-800 crashed on a domestic flight. All 132 occupants were killed: 123 passengers and nine crew members. Investigations into the cause of the crash are still ongoing.
The decline in the number of fatalities has varied for decades. After reaching an all-time low in 2017, the number of casualties was slightly higher in the following years, but a long-term comparison shows that the low number of casualties continues to fall.
According to forecasts by the UN aviation organisation ICAO, airlines carried around 3.2 billion passengers last year, more than eight times as many passengers as in 1970. The statistical probability of being killed in a plane crash averaged 1 in around 264,000 in the 1970s; last year it was 1 in 15,609,756. So flying was 59 times safer in 2022 than in the 1970s.
Eurocontrol Analysis 2022 and Outlook 2023
Eurocontrol looks back at 2022 in an analysis paper and hopes for a positive development in 2022
Eurocontrol notes that 2022 was the year in which European aviation weathered the storm. The year ended with 9.3 million flights: 3.1 million more than the previous year, although still 1.8 million fewer than in 2019.
This represents a solid 83% of 2019 traffic, achieved despite the Omicron spike at the beginning of the year and the invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, which continues to have a huge socio-economic impact on all aspects of the European economy, including aviation. However, despite these double shocks, traffic recovered steadily to 86% of 2019 levels by May, with similar monthly traffic levels since then.
The analysis paper looks at the big numbers to track this recovery throughout 2022 for every aspect of European aviation, and shows that there are big differences in traffic between airlines, airports, ANSPs, and states, in addition to global numbers. Leading the airline recovery in 2022 were the low-cost carriers, totaling 85% of 2019 with two top performers in Ryanair (109% of 2019) and Wizz Air (114%); while Europe’s top airports mostly struggled to regain more than 83% of 2019 traffic, Istanbul iGA led most of the year with about 100% of 2019 traffic; and at the state level, some of Europe’s smaller or classic vacation destination countries proved the most resilient in recovering to pre-pandemic levels or even beyond.
As we enter 2023 and beyond, Eurocontrol is confident that the recovery will continue to strengthen as capacity and staffing issues are gradually addressed, albeit at a somewhat slower pace than was expected prior to Russia’s war of aggression. Eurocontrol expects total traffic to reach 92% of pre-COVID levels in 2023, with full recovery from the pandemic in 2025.
Ordinary VDF General Meeting 2023
On the occasion of its last meeting, the VDF Board has already set the date for the Ordinary General Meeting 2023. It will take place on Thursday, May 25, 2023, 1:00 p.m. at the Airport Club, Frankfurt Airport FAC, Dorian Lounge.
This is for advance information. The invitations will be sent out in accordance with the Articles of Association.