According to German air traffic control (DFS), air traffic in Germany is recovering, but remains below the level before the corona pandemic. From January to the end of August, the federal authority’s air traffic controllers guided two million flights through German airspace, said the DFS in Langen near Frankfurt. That is 5.2 percent more than in the same period last year. However, the traffic volume is still almost ten percent below the level of 2019, the year before the outbreak of the corona pandemic.

Despite the growing air traffic, DFS was able to significantly improve its punctuality from January to August, it said. However, delays that could be attributed to air traffic control only made up a small part: the majority of delays in departures in Germany were caused by the airlines, and airports accounted for 12 percent.

The biggest problem remains the war in Ukraine, according to the DFS. As a result, parts of European airspace are closed to civil flights. Traffic has therefore shifted to the southwest of Europe. The number of overflights in southern Germany has grown significantly, which at times led to capacity bottlenecks.

In addition, the weather is having an increasing influence on air traffic. According to DFS, in June and July 50 percent of delays were due to bad weather – for example because airports could not be reached or thunderstorms had to be avoided.