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‘A good day for London’ as court upholds Frankfurt night ban

[ April 4, 2012   //   ]

Germany’s Federal Administrative Court has upheld a ban on night flying at Lufthansa’s main Frankfurt hub – effectively making permanent the 23.00-05.00 ban imposed by the Hesse state court last October. The court in Leipzig also reduced the number of flights permitted in the ‘shoulder’ hours from 10 pm to 6 am to 133 from 150, Reuters reported.

chief executive Christoph Franz told journalists: “This is a good day for our rivals in Paris, London, Amsterdam and Dubai” and warned that the ban would affect decisions on the carrier’s future investment decisions. Lufthansa had already warned that it might axe its entire freighter fleet if the night ban were to become permanent.

Cargo chief executive Karl-Ulrich Garnadt added that the ban would cost €40 million in lost earnings a year and that a switch of some freighter flights to Cologne in response to the Hesse Court ban in October had been a “flop” because passenger aircraft with bellyhold space were still using Frakfurt – effectively splitting the freight operation in two.

The night ban is widely seen as a quid pro quo for allowing a new runway to be built at Frankfurt. However, anti-noise protestors, who have been holding demonstrations at the airport, have been calling for the new runway to be shut down and for the existing night ban to be extended by two hours.

 

 

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