Airports, trade fairs, breweries, casinos – many of the Free State’s holdings have slipped into the red to an unprecedented extent during the corona pandemic. “The Corona crisis has hit numerous sectors, such as the trade fair industry and air traffic, and thus many of the Free State’s holdings, hard and through no fault of their own,” said Finance Minister Albert Füracker (CSU) on Wednesday when the new investment report was presented to the state parliament’s budget committee .
The Munich and Nuremberg airports, for example, had to record the most difficult year in their history in 2020 – through no fault of their own, said Füracker. In the past two years, passenger numbers have fallen by around 75 percent compared to 2019, the last year before the crisis. Even in the first half of 2021, there were still dramatically low air traffic numbers due to the lockdown and travel restrictions. A recovery has been recorded since mid-2021. “But the all-clear is far from in sight.”
How things will continue can only be answered with a “look into the crystal ball”, nobody can say that today. Nevertheless: The Free State is “unrestricted” to the two airports. According to Füracker, only 12.5 million passengers were counted at Munich Airport last year – that is only a good quarter of the pre-crisis level. As in 2020, the minus in 2021 will therefore be in the mid three-digit million range. And in Nuremberg, too, one must reckon with a considerable deficit.