“Expansion of Frankfurt Airport – which will create about 100,000 new jobs – is a national priority and represents one of Europe’s biggest employment programs in the coming years,” said Dr. Wilhelm Bender, executive board chairman of Fraport AG…
“Expansion of Frankfurt Airport – which will create about 100,000 new jobs – is a national priority and represents one of Europe’s biggest employment programs in the coming years,” said Dr. Wilhelm Bender, executive board chairman of Fraport AG. He was addressing a visiting delegation of members of parliament (MPs) from the German Bundestag working group of the CDU/CSU federal parliamentary party, as well as parliamentary spokesmen for tourism policy of the parties in the Hesse state parliament. The competitiveness of Germany’s central air transportation hub is crucial for the country’s future position in aviation. Therefore, a clear statement from the Bundestag and the federal government advocating airport expansion would give “Fraport important political and moral support,” said Bender.
Moreover, Bender called for a de-bureaucratization and a simplification of government approval procedures. “Some 650 documentation sets with 60 binders each, comprising well over 17,500 text pages, 790 plans and maps, as well as 34 expert opinions and supplementary opinions, had to be submitted by Fraport. This was perhaps good for employment in the paper industry but damaging for the international competitive position of over-regulated Germany. Lined up, these document binders would already exceed the length of FRA’s planned landing runway,“ said Bender. And legal counselling costs for this procedure alone have amounted to €25 million.
Bender welcomed the fact that the vast majority of the South Hesse regional assembly had recently voted in favor of the construction a new A380 superjumbo maintenance base at Frankfurt Airport. Zoning approval for the new A380 maintenance base is expected by the end of November or early December of this year. Then, Fraport will prepare the site so that Lufthansa can start construction in 2005. Thus, the maintenance base will be ready by 2007 when Lufthansa’s first super jumbos are scheduled to go into service. Lufthansa has ordered 15 A380s and intends to station its entire superjumbo fleet at FRA.
Finally, Bender called for an “amendment to the German Aircraft Noise Act based on good judgement.” The German environment ministry’s current draft legislation would put an extra burden of more than one billion euros on the German air transportation industry and damage the country’s competitive position. Therefore, comprehensive improvements to the draft legislation are necessary. Regarding security issues, Bender emphasized that Germany’s high security standard should not be exclusively financed by the airports. Safeguarding the general public against danger should be a state responsibility, hence the associated costs must be paid for by the state.
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