From the point of view of commercial pilots, the larger airports in Germany have become even safer. At the presentation of the annual airport check, the pilots’ union “Vereinigung Cockpit” praised the continuous improvement of the already high level of technical safety.
Among the 28 airports examined, Munich, Leipzig and Stuttgart were again at the top, as VC announced on Monday. All three had an excellent infrastructure and work processes for operational safety that have proven themselves over the years. Bremen, Erfurt, Kassel-Calden and Cologne-Bonn follow this top group as other “very good” airports.
There were no major structural improvements at the airports compared to the previous year. This year, the pilots paid particular attention to the logical naming of the runways. The VC often criticized the fact that pilots had not been appointed to local safety committees. Incidents or planned structural changes could be discussed here in a confidential setting. “The more participants, the more effective these teams are,” explained the VC.
At the lower end of the scale were the airports of Weeze, Mannheim (both grades 2.9) and Lübeck (2.8). Germany’s largest airport in Frankfurt remains in the middle with a school grade of 2.2. Here, as in Memmingen and Münster-Osnabrück, the conversion of the approach lights to energy-saving LED technology was praised.
A working group from the Cockpit Association has been subjecting German commercial airports to an annual security check since 1978. Since 1996, regional airports have also been included, provided there is significant scheduled traffic. A catalog of criteria, which includes both international regulations and additional equipment that makes sense from the pilot’s point of view, serves as the basis for the investigation.
