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Air Traffic Report 08/09: Air Traffic in Germany during the Financial Crisis

Air Traffic Report 08/09 : German Air Traffic during the economic Crisis

Taxiing Aircrafts at Frankfurt Airport

DLR have continued their yearly analysis of German air traffic by publishing the air traffic report 2008/09. The description and assessment of the air traffic development with regard to the international economic crisis is emphasised in the report.

Air Traffic is significantly decreasing at German Airports

The air traffic report 2008/09 documents the German air traffic during the years 2008 and 2009. This very time window represents the trend of the economic crisis as also revealed by the air traffic development. In 2008 the passenger traffic still grew by 0.9 percent to 192 million at the 27 selected airports after yearly growth rates beyond five percent in the preceding years. For the year 2009 scientists report a decline of more than six percent with respect to passengers and flight movements. The most significant decline however is revealed for freight traffic: here experts report a decline ranging in the two digit scale.

Consumer Protection and the Airlines’ Pricing Strategies

Air Traffic Report 2008/2009

Pricing strategies of network carriers are often not comprehensible for customers: Why do passengers have to pay more for a one way flight than for a round trip? Why may a transfer flight from A to B via a hub be cheaper than a direct flight from H to B although the latter trip is much shorter and thus generates significantly lower production costs?

In order to avoid the relatively high fares of certain flight constellations passengers currently apply the following strategies:

• Disuse of outbound or return flight,
• Cross-ticketing or
• Hidden City-Ticketing (booking of a cheaper transfer flight and exclusive use of the direct flight without using the booked feeder flight).

However the airlines consider these practices as contract violation: if a passenger does not use part of the flight booked, all subsequent flight segments of the booking will be cancelled. This fact has led to a series of law suits raised by passengers concerned against various airlines. In a special article, scientists discuss this issue from legal and economic points of view and assess the consequences for airlines in case the described ways of avoiding the tariff rules to be applied were allowed.

Hans-Leo Richter Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR) Kommunikation Tel.: +49 2203 601-2425 Fax: +49 2203 601-3249

Erik Grunewald Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR) DLR Flughafenwesen und Luftverkehr Tel.: +49 531 295-3045 Fax: +49 531 295-1-3045