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Aviation industry sees its bottom line
The aviation industry is again looking a little more optimistically towards the future. Photo: Julian Stratenschulte / dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
Thousands lost their jobs because hardly anyone flew in the Corona crisis. Because the airlines put their orders for new aircraft on hold. Now things are looking up again.
After the worst crisis in air traffic since the Second World War, aircraft construction in Germany is on the road to recovery.
“We have now bottomed out,” said Michael Schöllhorn, President of the Federal Association of the German Aerospace Industry of the German Press Agency. “We’re starting again to increase production, to hire people again.”
Ten billion euros in sales lost
The industry lost ten billion euros in sales in 2020 and reduced its number of employees by a good 8,000 to 73,000. 2021 will still be a difficult year, said Schöllhorn. It was only this weekend that the aviation industry felt the effects of the latest developments in the corona pandemic: Germany and other countries restricted air traffic from South Africa due to concerns about a new coronavirus variant. According to Schöllhorn, companies in the sector had generally shown themselves to be more resilient than expected during the crisis.
«We always had a good order backlog. The airlines have almost not canceled anything, but rather postponed it. ” In 2021 sales will be at the level of 2020 or slightly above. “Until we have the pre-crisis level, it will take at least until the end of 2023.”
Praise for the coalition agreement
The industry sees a lot of good things in the coalition agreement between the SPD, Greens and FDP. “We are referred to as a key industry, there are specific statements on the promotion of technologies, as far as decarbonization is concerned, right through to planned demonstrator programs.” In addition, there are clear statements to strengthen space travel and the role of the Bundeswehr, said Schöllhorn, who heads the swearing-in and space division at Airbus.
Schöllhorn called for the production of sustainable aviation fuels to be expanded more quickly. These are obtained from plants or waste without using crude oil. “Because of the engine technology, we could go straight up to 50 percent sustainable aviation fuels.” In order for the energy industry to ramp up production, support and incentives are required.
Sustainable aviation fuels
In addition, the question of where the large amounts of electricity for flying with the help of hydrogen can come from in the future must also be answered. «It is the right step to move forward with the coal phase-out. But what instead? If we then import the nuclear power from France or the Czech Republic, that’s not a round answer either. “
The industry association also calls for more European efforts to build their own telecommunications satellites in low orbit. “That is something where Europe has to orientate itself very quickly in order not to be left behind.” Operators such as Space X from entrepreneur Elon Musk would have presented strongly. If Europe waits too long, the frequencies will be assigned and this part of the orbit will be dominated by American, Chinese, and British-Indian.