Europe News
Frankfurt airport night ban to cost Lufthansa tens of millions
Oct 20, 2011, 11:58 GMT
Berlin - A ban from next week on night flights at Frankfurt international airport will cost the airfreight division of Lufthansa tens of millions of euros in the current year, the German national carrier said Thursday.
Lufthansa plans to load as many as five air-cargo jets before the 11 pm take-off deadline and fly them to nearby Cologne-Bonn Airport to wait on the ground for their scheduled times of departure for China. The time of day when they overfly Russia cannot be changed.
This awkward change in its route planning follows a court ruling last week that permission for a daily average of 17 flights in the dead of night from Frankfurt were legally void. The ban will come into effect when a new, fourth runway opens in Frankfurt on Friday.
'We are expecting net costs in the significant two-digit numbers of millions,' said Karl Ulrich Garnadt, head of Lufthansa's cargo division, without giving a precise figure.
Asked about media predictions of 30 million to 50 million euros in extra costs, he said the loss was 'likely' to be in that area.
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