German skies filling up at pace post-COVID - air traffic controller

Flight traffic in Germany is expected to grow further towards the end of 2022 as the sector rebounds from the COVID-19 crisis, the country's DFS air traffic controller said on Wednesday.

Flight traffic in Germany is expected to grow further towards the end of 2022 as the sector rebounds from the COVID-19 crisis, the country's DFS air traffic controller said on Wednesday. During the first six months of 2022, DFS counted over 1.2 million flight movements, amounting to about 76% of the level seen in 2019, before the virus began wreaking havoc with world travel.

"In total, we are expecting for 2022 around 85% of the traffic volume that we registered in the pre-crisis year of 2019," DFS Chief Executive Arndt Schoenemann said. "It is on the way up - and much more strongly than we expected." DFS noted that while far fewer aeroplanes were travelling in lower airspace compared to 2019, the skies at higher altitude were even busier than before.

One reason given for this was the war in Ukraine and the resulting airspace closures. With direct eastward flights no longer possible, airlines in the European Union were having to take diversions of up to five hours, DFS said. (Writing by Rachel More, Editing by Miranda Murray)