Berlin.
In June, Germany is the hub for a huge exercise by the international air force – with consequences for air travelers as well.
In mid-June it will be full in the sky over Germany: 25 nations come together for the “Air Defender” maneuver. It is the largest air force deployment exercise since NATO was founded. With around 230 military aircraft and around 10,000 participants, collective defense is practiced – with Deutschland as host and hub. The USA alone is relocating 100 aircraft, the German Armed Forces are involved with 70 aircraft.
The people of Germany have to look forward to more for the duration of the maneuver from June 12th to 23rd aircraft noise – and to disruptions to civil air traffic. At the beginning of the summer travel season, this worries the industry.
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The giant exercise takes place in the midst of the tensions with Russia and is therefore particularly explosive. However, “Air Defender” was planned long before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. As Lieutenant General Ingo Gerhartz 2018 head of the German air force he suggested that the Pentagon train over Europe for emergencies.
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“With the Air Defender exercise, we are showing that the Air Force is the first military resource in a crisis,” says the Air Force Inspector to this editorial office. “We can move forces from the USA to Germany very quickly, in hours, and thus for a credible deterrence care for.”
The idea behind the maneuver is that it is the Air Forces are the ones who will react first in the event of an attack on Germany or its partner countries. “Similar to an orchestra, in which all the different instruments have to hit the right note at exactly the same time in order to sound good together,” explains an Air Force spokesman. To achieve this goal, “reconnaissance, fighters, bombers and electronic warfare would have to be planned together.”
Major maneuvers before the summer school holidays begin across Germany
The CDU tourism politician Jana Schimke shows understanding for the exercise. “We find ourselves in an aggravated foreign and security policy situation worldwide,” Schimke told our editorial team. However: “From a tourist point of view, a different period would certainly be desirable.” The exercise was over before the The summer vacation start, emphasizes the head of the tourism committee in the Bundestag.
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The exercise will be in three airspaces held, which are temporarily closed to civil air traffic for the duration of the manoeuvre. “This means we are dealing with less airspace capacity, in other words, to put it simply, less space in the sky,” explains a spokeswoman for German air traffic control (DFS). “To avoid congestion, flights will be diverted where necessary and fixed take-off times will be allocated. If the planned number of flights exceeds the capacity acceptable for air traffic control reasons, delays can occur.”
“Air Defender”: These are the three designated airspaces in Germany
DFS is planning an “extraordinary increase in personnel” for the period of the exercise in order to avoid flight cancellations. The CDU politician Schimke welcomes this: “Another year of chaos on our airports must not exist.”
The northern airspace reserved for “Air Defender” extends over Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony, Hamburg, Bremen and parts of the North Sea. In the east, flights are made over the Baltic Sea, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Brandenburg and Saxony, in the south-west Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland are particularly affected, such as the federal government responded to a parliamentary question from the left.
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According to the Bundeswehr, the training rooms are based on areas that are already being used by the Air Force for training. For the maneuver they were expanded and partially connected by corridors.
The good news for everyone who wants to get on a plane during “Air Defender”: At the weekends, the participants in the maneuver have to rest. During the week, however, the east exercise room should be reserved for the maneuver between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., the south exercise room between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. and the north exercise room between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m.
Aviation industry nervous about mid-June
Die aviation industry looks nervously to the ten days from mid-June. “The detailed planning of flight times and routes over Germany during the exercise period is still ongoing, so the operational effects on flight operations cannot yet be specifically estimated,” Lufthansa announced. Airline boss Carsten Spohr expressed the expectation that existing night flight bans would be handled more flexibly during the air maneuver and unused take-off and landing rights would be retained.
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The Union had proposed that night flight ban at least on the last two days of the exercise – during the start of the holiday season in the most populous federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The federal government did not react, referred to the federal states.
During military manoeuvres: Delays and longer flight times possible
The Federal Association of the German Air Transport Industry (BDL) would like “very precise information” on when which airspace blocks will be closed and how flight management should then be organized in order to avoid the impairments for passengers and the companies “to keep as low as possible”. A BDL spokesman warns that German airspace is “highly loaded anyway”.
“If the planned number of flights exceeds the acceptable capacity for air traffic control reasons, delays can occur,” says a spokesman for the Federal Ministry of Transport. “Longer flight times will also be unavoidable.” That’s why the European air traffic control Eurocontrol carried out a simulation run with actual data from all flights and diversion scenarios. Fit based on the results of this stress test Airlines their operational plans and airports their ground processes again, according to the Ministry of Transport.
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The spokeswoman for the Germans air traffic control promises: “Everything will be done to keep the effects on civil air traffic as low as possible.” The Air Force is confident that this will succeed. The spokesman emphasizes that only certain “altitude bands” are affected, which could be flown under, especially when taking off from airports. “There will be no cancellations of civilian flights, no civilian airfield will be closed for the exercise period.”
Politicians in the traffic light coalition are campaigning for understanding. SPD tourism expert Stefan Zierke tells our editors: “I hope for the solidarity of the traveler, we should not play security interests off against tourist interests. Because without freedom and security, there is no international tourism either.” Stefan Schmidt, tourism politician for the Greens, has a tip ready: “For some travelers it could possibly be an option to switch to other means of transport such as the train.”
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