Air traffic in Germany - Mobility Report 2017 - DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung GmbH
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Air traffic in Germany Mobility Report 2017
The year in figures
The year 2017
Air traffic in German airspace
Size of German IFR IFR take-offs Peak
airspace flights and landings day
390,000 3.212 2.209 10,667
square kilometres million million IFR flights
23ne
Ju
Safety Punctuality Environment
Infringements of separation ATFM delay en-route Horizontal flight efficiency
(en-route) Per 1 million flight hours Delay per flight in minutes Deviation from the direct route
(RAT ABC) (ATC-related)
Benchmark 35 Benchmark 0.27 Benchmark 1.6%
2016 15.23 2017 18.6 2016 0.22 2017 0.5
2017 1.18%*
Infringements of separation ATFM delay arrival
(terminal) Also includes runway Delay per flight in minutes
incursions per 100,000 aircraft (ATC-related)
movements (RAT ABC)
Benchmark 1.37 Benchmark 0.09
2016 1.12%
2016 0.71 2017 0.31 2016 0.008 2017 0.003
*ca. 3.9 km
2 Mobility Report 2017
2017 – A record year
Every year, the German air navigation service provider DFS and its 5,400 staff ensure that millions
of passengers reach their destinations safely and on time. The year 2017 was a record year in
German airspace as regards the number of flights. The metrics we use to judge the quality of our
services show that it was also a good year for passengers and airlines despite the record volume
of traffic we had to manage. The DFS Mobility Report provides you with information on important
developments and trends in aviation from Germany, Europe and around the world.
Mobility Report 2017 3
Contents
Air transport sector
Air traffic in Germany . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Air traffic in Europe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Passengers and freight
Passenger numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Air freight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Safety
Air traffic safety statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Safety in German airspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Safety on the ground . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Unmanned aircraft systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Punctuality
Delays in air traffic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Environment
Air traffic and environmental protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
4 Mobility Report 2017
Air transport sector
New record for air traffic in Germany
The year 2017 was the busiest year in German airspace, with more than 3.2 m
illion
controlled flights.
In 2017, the number of flights under overflights make up the largest share of the flights
instrument flight rules (IFR) controlled in controlled in Germany. Entries to and exits from
German airspace was exactly 3,211,771. This German airspace each made up 25.7 percent of
broke the record set in 2008. In 2017, growth IFR flights. The share of purely domestic traffic
accelerated compared with the previous year, declined again. Only 10 percent of the flights
with traffic volumes in Germany rising by
around 3.3 percent (2016: 2.6 percent). This
took off from and landed on German territory in
2017 (2016: 10.5 percent). In 2017, the number 38.6
annual increase was again slightly lower than of take-offs and landings at the designated PERCENT
the EU country average of 3.8 percent for the international airports in Germany increased by 1.6 of all flights in
year. We can see that the record achieved percent. Leipzig Halle Airport had a particularly German airspace
in German airspace was primarily due to the good year in 2017. The second-largest cargo are overflights.
rise in air traffic in neighbouring countries. airport in the country benefitted from the rise in The number of such
According to EUROCONTROL data, around freight traffic. In 2017, 7.3 percent more flights flights rose, while
9.6 million flights were controlled in the EU took off from and landed in Leipzig. Nürnberg purely domestic
Member States in 2017. About a third of these Airport also experienced a significant rise in flight flights declined.
flights came under the responsibility of DFS movements (+7.2 percent).
and its air traffic controllers. The fact that the
traffic growth in Europe was higher than the At the regional airports, the trend reversed a
growth in Germany is reflected in the growing little, following the slump seen in the previous
share of overflights. At 38.6 percent, these year (2016: -8.4 percent).
Mobility Report 2017 5
Air transport sector
Traffic numbers over the long term
3.5
3.2
Controlled flights in millions
2.9
2.6
2.3
Source: DFS
2.0
00
04
06
08
09
05
02
03
01
07
9
8
12
13
15
10
16
11
14
17
9
9
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
19
19
1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
2.325 2.459 2.584 2.561 2.488 2.548 2.719 2.866 2.983 3.115 3.150 2.927 2.971 3.060 2.994 2.953 2.980 3.029 3.109 3.212
In 2017, air traffic controllers handled around 3,212,000 flights under instrument flight rules in German airspace, a rise of
3.3 percent over the previous year. This exceeded the record of 3.15 million IFR flights set in 2008.
Traffic by month
325
Controlled flights in thousands
300
275
250
225
Source: DFS
200
y
y
ch
ril
ay
ne
ly
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r
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Ja
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No
De
Se
Jan. Feb. March April May June July Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec.
223.000 220.000 250.000 262.000 293.000 297.000 310.000 302.000 303.000 294.000 239.000 225.000
With around 310,000 controlled flights, July was the busiest month of 2017.
On 23 June, 10,667 IFR flights were recorded in German airspace – more than on any other day of the year.
6 Mobility Report 2017
Traffic segments
13.6% 10.0%
Entries
25.8% 25.7%
Exits
2007 2017
38.6%
34.8%
Overflights
Source: DFS
Domestic flights
25.8% 25.7%
At the turn of the millennium, overflights made up less than a third of the air traffic volume in German airspace.
By 2017, their share had risen to 38.6 percent. During the same period, the percentage of domestic flights almost halved.
Main domestic connections
1.8
1.5
Millions of passengers
1.2
0.9
Source: Federal Statistical Office
0.6
0.3
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According to the German Federal Statistical Office, just under 24 million passengers travelled on domestic flights within
Germany in 2017. Berlin – Munich, Berlin – Frankfurt and Hamburg – Munich were the most popular routes.
Mobility Report 2017 7
Air transport sector 8 Mobility Report 2017
IFR take-offs and landings at Germany's international airports
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Change in %
Berlin Schönefeld 63,092 66,881 74,355 94,886 99,870 5.3
Berlin Tegel 173,979 181,532 183,696 184,974 173,045 -6.4
Berlin in total 237,071 248,413 258,051 279,860 272,915 -2.5
Bremen 35,107 36,538 34,211 32,861 30,246 -8.0
Dresden 22,333 23,502 22,823 22,727 21,450 -5.6
Düsseldorf 210,264 209,771 209,361 216,875 220,904 1.9
Erfurt 4,796 4,883 4,869 4,907 5,455 11.2
Frankfurt 472,549 468,915 468,027 462,742 475,365 2.7
Hamburg 136,605 146,315 149,939 151,785 153,931 1.4
Hannover 64,157 62,914 62,320 61,797 62,401 1.0
Cologne Bonn 119,538 122,184 127,356 135,391 139,760 3.2
Leipzig Halle 59,467 60,482 62,417 61,488 65,963 7.3
Munich 379,107 374,110 377,082 391,521 401,728 2.6
Münster Osnabrück 16,322 17,678 17,611 16,808 18,223 8.4
Nürnberg 51,943 49,901 48,665 49,495 53,074 7.2
Saarbrücken 9,548 8,567 9,945 9,285 8,787 -5.4
Stuttgart 114,082 113,798 118,931 118,918 117,939 -0.8
Total 1,932,889 1,947,971 1,971,608 2,016,460 2,048,141 1.6
IFR take-offs and landings at Germany's regional airports
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Change in %
Altenburg Nobitz* 300 349 – – – –
Augsburg 6,788 6,887 6,732 6,516 7,049 8.2
Braunschweig 12,206 11965 11,727 10,471 9,784 -6.6
Dortmund 19,791 20,097 20,114 19,262 20,220 5.0
Friedrichshafen 11,974 11861 12,393 10,109 9,919 -1.9
Hahn 23,939 20,570 20,957 20,634 20,662 0.1
Heringsdorf 1,115 1,210 984 982 838 -14.7
Hof Plauen 1,393 1,902 1,515 1,313 1,488 13.3
Ingolstadt Manching 6,616 6,987 6,601 5,529 5,669 2.5
Karlsruhe Baden-Baden 15,776 14,640 13,930 12,707 13,016 2.4
Kassel Calden 2,950 3,345 3,788 3,792 4,342 14.5
Lahr 606 1,444 1,461 1,493 1,543 3.3
Lübeck -Blankensee 5,869 4,861 4,310 2,284 1,922 -15.8
Magdeburg Cochstedt** 948 701 1,246 518 5 -99.0
Mannheim 4,934 5,704 6,309 6,591 6,460 -2.0
Memmingen 9,175 8,933 11,298 10,541 11,681 10.8
Mönchengladbach 4,796 5,472 5,726 5,072 6,025 18.8
Niederrhein 18,897 13,567 13,187 12,714 13,066 2.8
Paderborn Lippstadt 13,635 12,857 13,048 12,666 12,805 1.1
Rostock Laage 9,777 9,381 8,449 6,866 7,880 14.8
Schwerin Parchim 1,487 1,519 1,768 1,320 1,056 -20.0
Westerland Sylt 4,862 5,032 5,553 5,359 5,717 6.7
Zweibrücken* 4,457 3,743 – – – –
Total 182,291 173,027 171,096 156,739 161,147 2.8
At Germany’s designated international airports, 1.6 percent more flights were conducted in 2017. Traffic at the regional
airports – which had been declining – rebounded, with the number of take-offs and landings rising by 2.8 percent. This table
is based on all take-offs and landings under instrument flight rules (IFR). Domestic flights count as two aircraft movements
– one take-off and one landing.
* Altenburg and Zweibrücken are no longer classified as regional airports (since 2015).
** Until further notice, flight operations at Magdeburg Cochstedt Airport have been discontinued (since September 2016).
Mobility Report 2017 9
Air transport sector
These airports experienced around 2.8 per- On 23 June, exactly 10,677 flights were
cent more take-offs and landings over the controlled. This number only includes IFR flights.
previous year. While the busiest regional
airport (Frankfurt Hahn) basically stagnated According to EUROCONTROL forecasts,
(+0.1 percent), Dortmund Airport, the second the rise in traffic will continue in 2018.
busiest regional airport, recorded above-average EUROCONTROL expects 2.7 percent more flight
growth. Higher frequencies on some routes and movements in Germany, totalling 3.4 million
new connections to Eastern Europe and North controlled flights. It expects growth to slacken
Africa led to a rise in traffic of 5.0 percent in off in the subsequent years, forecasting an
Dortmund. The growth at Memmingen Airport average growth rate of 1.9 percent per year until
was especially high. This airport in the far south 2024. This would put Germany slightly below the
of Germany saw traffic advance by 10.8 percent. average for the EU States, which are forecast to
More
than 10 Ryanair stationed a new aircraft there in 2017,
which opened up new destinations.
see a rise of 2.1 percent.
THOUSAND
flights were Summer time is holiday time and holiday time
recorded in German is travel time – this truth remained unchanged
airspace on 23 in 2017. With around 310,000 controlled flights,
June 2017 – more July was the busiest month of the year. The
than on any other busiest day also fell in a typical holiday month.
day of the year
Future trend for IFR traffic
15
10.73
11.01
11.29
11.49
11.71
11.91
12.13
Controlled flights in millions
12
Source: Low-growth forecast EUROCONTROL
9
6.19
6.32
6.47
6.57
6.67
6.75
6.84
6
3.56
3.62
3.67
3.73
3.50
3.35
3.43
3
0
2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Change over previous year 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Europe 3.3% 2.6% 2.5% 1.8% 1.9% 1.7% 1.8%
FABEC 2.4% 2.1% 2.2% 1.5% 1.6% 1.2% 1.4%
Germany 2.7% 2.4% 2.2% 1.7% 1.7% 1.4% 1.5%
EUROCONTROL recalculates its air traffic forecast twice a year with three scenarios. These include a conservative, an
optimistic and a third scenario somewhere between the two extremes. This middle scenario is shown in the visual. In this
scenario, the number of flights in German airspace will rise by around half a million until 2024.
10 Mobility Report 2017After the terror: How the travel behaviour
of German tourists has changed.
Egypt is recovering from the collapse in numbers seen in 2016, while Turkey continues
to lose visitors and Spain keeps its top ranking as the favourite holiday destination
of the Germans.
The year 2016 saw a change in travel behaviour Greece (+17.7 percent) and Portugal
as tourists reacted to terror threats by avoiding (+14.6 percent) experienced significant increases.
Egypt and Turkey. The number of flights to both These countries are considered as alternatives
countries from Germany declined. This decline to Spain, which itself remains the clear favourite
has been arrested for Egypt. In 2017, passenger as the top holiday destination of the Germans.
numbers there rose by almost two thirds. Flights More than 14 million passengers boarded flights
to Turkey, however, continued their downward from Germany to either the Spanish mainland, the
trend, experiencing a decrease of 4.7 percent. Balearic Islands or the Canary Islands in 2017.
This decrease slackened off considerably This represents a further increase of 3.6 percent
compared with the decline seen the year before, over the previous year. Italy, which ranks second,
when the number of flights sank by a fifth. saw only half as many passengers. The United
Turkey remains in fifth place in the ranking of top Kingdom and the United States follow close
destinations, while Egypt has re-entered the top behind.
20.
Top 20 destinations
3.6 *
+10,3
15
12
Millions of passengers
Change over previous year in percent
9
+ 6.3
+ 4.7
+ 5.5
– 4.7
6
+ 17.7
+ 5.7
+ 5.0
+ 5.8
+ 14.6
3
+ 12.2
+ 5.2
+ 6.7
+ 63.5
+ 11.2
+ 0.4
– 3.9
+ 3.1
+ 7.4
+ 6.0
Source: DFS
0
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While the number of travellers to Turkey declined, other countries, particularly Spain, benefitted. In 2017, around 14.4 million
people flew to the Spanish mainland, the Balearic Islands or the Canary Islands. Greece recorded even higher growth.
Mobility Report 2017 11Air transport sector
The changes in travel flows are reflected in (+8.5 percent) and Estonia (+7.5 percent) saw
the traffic seen in other EU States. According significantly more take-offs and landings in
to EUROCONTROL, traffic to Mediterranean 2017 over 2016.
countries rose at above-average rates in
14.4 2017: Cyprus (+11.6 percent), Portugal
(+9.5 percent), Croatia (+8.7 percent) and
MILLION Greece (+6.5 percent). Eastern Europe also
passengers recorded a higher volume of traffic. Slovenia
travelled from (+9.3 percent), Latvia (+8.9 percent), Romania
German airports
to Spain in 2017.
12 Mobility Report 2017European metropolitan airports
European metropolitan airports
Average number of departures per day
London
London City
Heathrow Paris
London
Le Bourget
6.9% Luton Istanbul
Sabiha Gökçen
11.6% 7.0%
Paris
Orly 32.2%
40.8%
London 16.1%
London
Stansted Paris 30.2%
Istanbul
1,053 911
1,59733,7% 62.8%
67.8%
Paris Istanbul
24.5% Charles-de-Gaulle Atatürk
London
Gatwick
1 2 3
0.4%
Madrid
Torrejon
Madrid Munich Frankfurt Amsterdam
533 551 651 696
99.6%
Madrid
Barajas
7 6 5 4
Rome
Bergamo Ciampino
47.0% 22.5% 15.1%
Milan
Malpensa Milan Rome Barcelona
522 480 443
30.5%
84.9%
Milan
Linate
Source: Eurocontrol
Rome
Fiumicino
8 9 10
Europe’s busiest airports are located in and around London. The airports of Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Luton and City
see an annual average of just under 1,600 take-offs per day. These figures only consider flights under instrument flight rules.
The statistics include airports located up to 50 kilometres from the city centre with at least one aircraft movement per day.
Mobility Report 2017 13Passengers and freight
Global traffic record
The number of passengers across the globe broke the four-billion mark for the
first time in 2017. In Germany, passenger numbers rose by 5.7 percent.
Statistically speaking, half of the global years, the rise in the number of passengers was
population travelled by aeroplane in 2017. The stronger than the rise in the number of flights.
International Air Transport Association (IATA) This underlines that airlines are keeping a close
reported that the number of airline passengers eye on the profitability of their routes and are
rose to around 4.1 billion, breaking the record trying to use their capacity as efficiently as
77.6 high of 2016 (3.8 billion passengers). The number
of passenger kilometres went up correspondingly
possible. Load factors went up correspondingly.
They reached a record level according to the
PERCENT (number of passengers multiplied by kilometres German Federal Statistical Office, rising to 77.6
of all seats in flown). This figure rose by 7.6 percent over the percent in 2017. This is 0.9 percentage points
airliners are filled. previous year according to IATA. more than in the record year of 2015.
Load factors
thus reached a A new record high in passenger numbers was This growth in traffic means that the busy skies
record high. also seen in Germany. According to the German above Europe’s metropolitan areas continued to
Federal Statistical Office, around 213 million get busier. The London metropolitan area has the
passengers used German airports in 2017, a busiest airspace. The airports serving London
rise of 5.7 percent over 2016. As in previous have an average 1,597 departures per day,
14 Mobility Report 2017putting them in first place in Europe. Then come
the Paris airports with an average of 1,053. Third
place is taken by the two Istanbul airports (911
departures per day). Frankfurt Airport remains
behind Amsterdam in fifth place.
Load factor
80
76
Load factor (%)
72
Source: Federal Statistical Office
68
64
60
00
04
06
08
09
05
02
03
07
01
6
99
98
97
12
13
15
10
16
11
14
17
9
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
19
20
20
20
20
20
19
19
19
The extent to which seats are filled in the aircraft departing from and arriving at German airports has continued to increase.
In 2017, 77.6 percent of all seats were occupied according to the German Federal Statistical Office.
Destinations with the best load factor
Hurghada 90.5
Rome Ciampino 89.8
Fuerteventura 89.4
Heraklion 89.3
Load factor (%)
Bangkok Suvarnabhumi 89.3
Kos 89.2
Marsa Alam 89.2
Tenerife South 88.9
Corfu 88.7
Source: Federal Statistical Office
Skopje 88.7
Porto 88.6
Toronto 88.5
Tokyo 88.5
Rhodes 88.4
82 84 86 88 90 92
Flights to the tourist centres in Egypt, on the Canary Islands and Rome recorded the highest load factors in 2017. Overall, the
load factor for flights abroad rose to 79.2 percent. These figures reflect flight destinations with over 1,000 flights per year.
Mobility Report 2017 15Passengers and freight
Economic boom above the clouds:
Air freight
Growth rates for freight more than doubled last year – a positive sign for
the economy.
Around 60 million tonnes of freight were freight markets, North America (+7.8 percent)
transported through the skies worldwide in 2017. and Asia Pacific (+7.9 percent), remained slightly
According to IATA, nine percent more freight below average. The largest percentage growth
tonne kilometres were registered worldwide (more than 25 percent) was recorded in Africa.
4.9 in 2017 compared with the previous year. The
rise in freight was twice as high as in 2016 In 2017, 4.9 million tonnes of freight and post
MILLION (+3.8 percent). This was the strongest growth were handled at airports in Germany according
tonnes of freight in freight traffic since 2010. to the German Federal Statistical Office. This
were handled at is 6.2 percent more than in the previous year.
German airports In Europe, freight tonne kilometres rose
in 2017. by 11.8 percent. This shows that there was a
recovery from the below-average growth seen
in the region in 2016. Growth in the two largest
Freight and passenger traffic
15%
12%
Change in %
9%
6%
Source: IATA
3%
Jan. Feb. March April may June July Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec.
Change in % Passenger kilometres Freight tonne kilometres
Africa 6.3 24.8
Asia Pacific 10.1 7.8
Europe 8.2 11.8
Latin America 7.0 5.7
Middle East 6.4 8.1
North America 4.2 7.9
Total 7.6 9.0
The volume of air freight in 2017 increased significantly in a year-on-year comparison. With a rise of nine percent, freight
tonne kilometres – the volume of freight transported multiplied by the kilometres flown – grew more than twice as strong
as in the previous year. Passenger volumes continued to grow at above-average rates, as was the case in the year before,
with an increase of 7.6 percent.
16 Mobility Report 2017The DFS Group and the largest airports where it operates
Top 10 for number of flights (IFR arrivals and departures)
Frankfurt 475,365
Munich 401,728
London Gatwick 285,969
Düsseldorf 220,904
Berlin Tegel 173,045
Hamburg 153,931
Cologne Bonn 139,760
Stuttgart 117,939
Berlin Schönefeld 99,870
Leipzig Halle 65,963
0 100 200 300 400 500
Top 10 for number of passengers (millions)
Frankfurt 64.5
London Gatwick 45.6
Munich 44.6
Düsseldorf 24.6
Berlin Tegel 20.5
Hamburg 17.6
Berlin Schönefeld 12.9
Cologne Bonn 12.4
Stuttgart 11.0
Hannover 5.9
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Top 10 for freight volume (thousands of tonnes)
Frankfurt 2,228.4
Leipzig Halle 1,137.6
Cologne Bonn 838.3
Munich 388.4
Hahn 126.9
Source: DFS, Federal Statistical Office
Düsseldorf 101.9
London Gatwick 97.0
Berlin Tegel 44.3
Hamburg 36.9
Stuttgart 36.9
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500
More than 475,000 flights, just under 65 million passengers and 2.23 million tonnes of freight were handled at Frankfurt
Airport, the largest airport where the DFS Group operates. Through its British subsidiary, the DFS Group is responsible for
providing air traffic control at London Gatwick. Edinburgh Airport in Scotland followed in 2018.
Mobility Report 2017 17Safety
Safe and sound around the world:
Air traffic safety statistics
Whoever boards an aeroplane can lean back and relax. According to IATA,
the high level of aviation safety improved again.
Many people have an irrational relationship According to IATA, just under 42 million flights
with flying. Only every third person feels at ease were conducted worldwide in 2017 – carrying
on board an aeroplane according to surveys. Two more than four billion people. This corresponds
thirds feel a greater or lesser sense of unease. to more than half the world’s population. Around
This feeling is completely misplaced. The figures the world, IATA registered 45 air accidents
from 2017 released by IATA again show that with 19 deaths. The relationship between the
flying is an especially safe form of travel. numbers makes one thing clear: the probability
of such an accident is minimal.
18 Mobility Report 2017This is also demonstrated by the global rate, this was a clear improvement. Between
accident rate released by IATA each year. This 2012 and 2016, this average accident rate was
figure shows how many major accidents occur 0.33 according to IATA.
for every one million flights. According to IATA,
a major accident means that the aircraft was
damaged so badly that it is not worth repairing.
Nevertheless, the same level of safety is
not encountered all over the world. The lowest
Only
after 9
For jet aircraft, the average accident rate accident rates are for airlines from Asia, Europe MILLION
worldwide declined to 0.11 in 2017. This is and North America according to IATA. Based accident-free flights
equivalent to only one major accident for every on the five-year rate, the highest rates are are flown can you
nine million flights. Compared with the five-year experienced in Africa. expect a major
jet accident.
Mobility Report 2017 19Safety
Keeping your distance in the air:
Safety in German airspace
The safety level in German airspace remained as high as ever, even as the volume
of traffic reached a record high. This is not only due to the hard work of air traffic
control, the airlines and airports also play a vital part.
DFS has one special core task to perform Any deviation from the prescribed separation
168 to guarantee the safety of air traffic. It has
to ensure sufficient distance, or separation,
minima is registered as an infringement of
separation and is investigated. All infringements
TIMES between aircraft in the air, and on the ground. of separation are analysed and evaluated by the
This is the number Due to the high speeds flown, for safety reasons company’s safety management division. There
of infringements of these distances are intentionally set high. In the are four categories depending on the severity.
separation in 2017 air, the vertical separation is at least 1,000 feet They act as a type of early warning system for
where DFS played (300 m) and the horizontal separation is three to DFS. By thoroughly examining each individual
a contributing five nautical miles (5.9 to 9.3 km) depending on deviation, potential risks become visible before
role. Of these, the size of aircraft and phase of flight. they can have a negative impact on the safety
only 31 were of air traffic and DFS can take countermeasures.
safety-related.
20 Mobility Report 2017Infringements of separation
350 3.5
300
Controlled flights in millions
Infringements of separation
250
200 3.0
150
100
50
Source: DFS
0 2.5
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Infringements of separation Controlled flights in millions
24 Severity category:
47
25 A (serious)
Contributing
factor
Air traffic
B (major)
168
control
in total
C (significant)
168
Air traffic control
Cockpit E (no safety effect)
137
An infringement of separation occurs when the distance between two aircraft is less than prescribed. In 2017,
215 infringements of separation were documented in German airspace – DFS was involved in 168 of these. The Risk
Analysis Tool (RAT) showed that the majority were not safety-related.
In its publications, DFS uses a method to In 2017, 215 infringements of separation were
evaluate infringements of separation that is applied recorded in German airspace for 3.2 million
uniformly across Europe. It is called the Risk aircraft movements (2016: 174). DFS was a
Analysis Tool (RAT). This tool was introduced to contributing factor in 168 of these (2016: 137).
harmonise safety classifications so that the safety However, only a small percentage of these had an
levels of countries across Europe could be more appreciable effect on safety. Of these 168 cases,
accurately compared with each other. While DFS 137 had no influence on safety at all. Twenty-five
used to have a three-level system of severity, the occurrences were classified as significant; four
RAT tool uses a four-level system. It differentiates were categorised as major and two as serious.
between the categories: serious, major, significant The number of infringements of separation in the
and no safety effect. DFS has been using this new top three severity levels remained more or less
classification system since 2015. This means unchanged compared with the previous year (2016:
that the values prior to this new system are not two serious, eight major, twenty-one significant).
comparable. This is an excellent level of performance given the
continued rise in traffic volume.
Mobility Report 2017 21Safety
Keeping your distance on the
ground: Safety at airports
80 DFS not only ensures safety in the skies above Germany. At the 16 international
airports in Germany, DFS air traffic controllers also monitor all aircraft under their
PERCENT control while taxiing, taking off and landing.
of all runway
incursions involved Aircraft on the ground also need to keep their Whenever an aircraft takes off or lands, a
the cockpit crew distance from each other to be safe. For this protected area is activated in which no other
as a contributing purpose, tower controllers monitor compliance aircraft, vehicle or person is allowed to enter. If
factor. with minimum distances that apply on the ground. this does happen, this is called a runway incursion.
Similar to infringements of separation in the
air, it is the controllers’ job to make sure these
distances are maintained at all times.
22 Mobility Report 2017As with infringements of separation, DFS traffic control was a contributing factor in only
records and analyses all runway incursions eight cases. Four of these were classified as
thoroughly regardless of whether the runway safety-related. One was classified as significant
incursion actually posed a threat to safety or not. and three as major. Not even one incident
The new Risk Analysis Tool (RAT) in use across was categorised as serious. This means that
Europe is also used for this purpose. In 2017, 101 safety on the ground improved compared with
runway incursions were recorded out of around the previous year. Not only did the number of
two million take-offs and landings at Germany's runway incursions overall decline. The number
designated international airports (2016: 115). of incidents in the top three severity categories
also went down compared with 2016.
In more than 70 of these cases, the cockpit
crew contributed to the runway incursion. Air
Runway Incursions
120 2.7
Take-offs and landings in millions
100 2.5
Runway incursions
80 2.3
60
2.1
40 1.9
20 1.7
Source: DFS
0 1.5
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Runway incursions Take-offs and landings in millions
20 Severity category:
A (serious)
8 Contributing
3
factor
Air traffic
73 control in B (major)
4
total
8 C (significant)
Pedestrians/vehicles
Air traffic control E (no safety effect)
1
Cockpit
On the ground, too, minimum distances need to be maintained: In the protected area of a surface designated for the take-off
and landing of aircraft, the presence of other aircraft, vehicles or people is not allowed. If this does happen, this is called
a runway incursion. Every runway incursion is recorded and analysed.
Of the 101 runway incursions that occurred at German airports in 2017, only eight involved DFS. The Risk Analysis Tool
determined that three of these had to be categorised in the second highest severity category. There were no incidents in
the highest category in 2017.
Mobility Report 2017 23Safety
Rivals in the air:
More safety for drone flights
More and more drones are filling the skies above Germany. These unmanned aerial
vehicles are opening up new avenues of business across the whole economy – but
they are posing a challenge for the safety of air traffic.
The exact number of drones in Germany that between 350,000 and 400,000 new drones
is unknown. After all, there is no mandatory entered circulation.
registration. Based on current sales volumes and
industry reports, the number will soon reach the Every new drone increases the risk of collision
one-million mark. In 2017 alone, DFS estimates between these small aircraft and manned
aircraft. Last year, DFS recorded 88 cases
24 Mobility Report 2017when civil air traffic was impeded by drones. app can be downloaded to smartphones from
This is about a third more than in the previous the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store.
year (2016: 64 reports). This rise is, however,
considerably lower than the rates of growth DFS has been working with partners since
experienced in the past. 2016 to locate and monitor drones using the
mobile phone network. Unmanned aerial vehicles
In 2017, DFS, together with the Belgian could then be operated beyond the remote
software company Unifly, developed an app to pilot’s line of sight. In addition, together with
safely integrate these new airspace users into the German Federal Ministry of Transport, DFS
the skies above Germany. The app, which was has put together a comprehensive package of
launched in July 2017, shows amateur drone information for drone pilots on its website.
pilots where and when they are allowed to fly.
It also informs users of the new regulations that www.safe-droneflight.de
were introduced in spring 2017 that need to be (This site is also available in English.)
complied with by drone pilots in Germany. The
Civil aircraft impeded by drones
20
15
Reported cases
10
5
0
Jan. Feb. March April May June July Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec.
Frankfurt 15
Airports with the most cases
Berlin Tegel 11
Düsseldorf 8
88
Munich 7
14
Berlin Schönefeld 5
2015 2018
Source: DFS
Hamburg 4
0 4 8 12 16 20
An increasing number of drones goes hand in hand with an increasing number of cases in which unmanned aircraft systems
come too close to regular air traffic. In 2017, DFS registered 88 such cases, which represents a clear levelling off of the rise
seen in previous years.
Mobility Report 2017 25Punctuality
Take-offs and landings by the
minute: Delays in air traffic
There can be many reasons for an aircraft taking off or landing late. For the most
part, air traffic control plays only a small role.
The aviation system is complex – a compli- It is mostly the knock-on effects of prior delays
cated machine with many cogs that need to fit that are the problem. These delays are often
smoothly together. It only takes a late connecting caused by the wait for passengers, baggage or
flight, a shortage of gates or a thunderstorm to new crew. An evaluation by the Central Office
cause the system to snag. No other mode of for Delay Analysis (CODA), a EUROCONTROL
transport is so dependent on the weather, for division, came to the conclusion that this reason
instance. Given all these factors, it is almost lay behind half of all delays. CODA based this
surprising that such a large number of flights analysis on pilot reports. Their results show that
reach their destinations on time. In 2017, around every second delay is attributable to the airlines.
80 percent of all flights in Europe arrived at their
destinations without any major delay. A third of
flights actually arrived ahead of time. Only one in
six flights was more than 15 minutes late.
26 Mobility Report 2017Punctuality in comparison
80
70 66.0
ATFM delay per flight (in seconds)
60
52.8
50.1
50
40 37.6
35.1
30 26.3
22.8
Source: EUROCONTROL
20
10
5.6
3.2
0.9
0
e
y
y
UK
n
nd
r ia
ly
lic
y
ke
an
ar
ai
nc
Ita
ub
la
st
Sp
ng
r
rm
a
er
Tu
Au
p
Fr
Hu
Re
it z
Ge
Sw
h
ec
Cz
The average delay time caused by air traffic flow management (ATFM) was nearly 53 seconds per flight in German airspace.
Only about half a minute of the delay was caused by air traffic control in 2017. The figure shows the punctuality in Europe’s
ten countries with the highest traffic volumes.
Traffic and punctuality
100 97.9 97.7 98.2 96.8
94.0 95.9 94.2
92.8
90.4
Share of flights without delay in %
80 3.3
Controlled flights in millions
60
3.1
40 2.9
20 2.7
Source: DFS
0 2.5
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Share of flights without delay in % Controlled flights in millions
The percentage of delayed flights in German airspace is very small. In 2017, only 5.8 percent of flights were affected by
air traffic flow management (ATFM) measures, for example due to bad weather, capacity bottlenecks at airports or high
traffic volumes.
Mobility Report 2017 27Punctuality
Punctuality declined slightly in European The percentage of flights that were subject
airspace compared with the previous year. The to air traffic flow management (ATFM) – due
average arrival delay in 2017 was 11.6 minutes to factors such as capacity bottlenecks –
(2016: 11 minutes). Bad weather and industrial increased as well. The average ATFM delay in
46 action were the prime causes according to
CODA. In addition, the aviation system is so
German airspace in 2017 stood at just under
53 seconds. This is a very small proportion of
PERCENT tightly scheduled that it can be almost impossible the overall delay.
of all delays in to make up for delays once they sneak into the
Europe are caused system. These then have a snowball effect on
by airlines. later flights.
Punctuality in Europe
40
35
30
Share in %
25
20
Source: EUROCONTROL/CODA
15
10
5
0
More than 15 5 to 15 On time 5 to 15 More than 15
minutes ahead minutes ahead minutes late minutes late
of schedule of schedule
Departures Arrivals
Every sixth aircraft in Europe takes off with more than 15 minutes of delay, for example due to ground handling delays or
bad weather. By contrast, every third aircraft actually arrives earlier than scheduled.
28 Mobility Report 2017Causes of delays – departures
6% 7%
5% 10%
7%
7%
14%
15% 9%
46% Europe 9%
46% Germany 50% Germany
(international) (domestic)
11%
9%
20%
16% 15%
Airlines Air navigation service providers
Source: EUROCONTROL/CODA
Airports Security
Weather Other
Paris Charles-de-Gaulle Madrid Barajas
Airlines 62% Airlines 47%
Airports 11% Airports 22%
Weather 3% Weather 6%
Air navigation service providers 9% Air navigation service providers 14%
Security 12% Security 8%
Other 3% Other 4%
London Heathrow Amsterdam
Airlines 63% Airlines 44%
Airports 18% Airports 33%
Weather 6% Weather 6%
Air navigation service providers 5% Air navigation service providers 11%
Security 5% Security 2%
Other 4% Other 5%
Frankfurt Munich
Airlines 40% Airlines 54%
Airports 24% Airports 8%
Weather 11% Weather 12%
Air navigation service providers 9% Air navigation service providers 9%
Security 9% Security 10%
Other 7% Other 7%
Mobility Report 2017 29Environment
Saving fuel, reducing noise: Air traffic
and environmental protection
Optimised flight routes save fuel, cause less harm to the environment and reduce
noise disturbance for local residents. DFS endeavours to achieve the optimum
result. This is by no means an easy task given the busy airspace over Germany.
DFS air traffic controllers guide the aircraft shortest route. Evaluations, however, show that
under their control to their destinations safely DFS comes very close to providing the optimum
and punctually. They select the most direct flight path. The average route flown by aircraft in
route feasible to be as environmentally friendly German airspace in 2017 was just 1.18 percent
as possible. This poses a difficult challenge in longer than the most direct route. This
an airspace as busy as the one above Germany. corresponds to a deviation of only 3.9 kilometres
With more than three million flight movements per flight. The immediate vicinity of airports has
per year and up to 10,000 flights per day, it is been left out of this assessment as, due to noise
simply impossible for every flight to reach its abatement, the shortest possible route can often
destination without deviating slightly from the not be used there.
30 Mobility Report 2017DFS developed arrival profiles that are DFS is always on the lookout for new ways
optimised vertically as a further measure to to lessen the noise impact of flight operations
benefit the environment. In a joint effort with for local residents. For example, a ground-
European partners and airlines, more than 30 based augmentation system (GBAS) has been
approach procedures have been improved in
this way at numerous airports. These include
installed at Frankfurt Airport. This enables
satellite-based approaches at a steeper angle,
1.18
Basel, Berlin Tegel, Frankfurt, Geneva, Munich, reducing the noise for people who live below PERCENT
Stuttgart, Strasbourg, Vienna and Zurich. By the approach paths. Aircraft, however, need to is the average
using improved procedures, aircraft remain at be equipped to use GBAS. Unfortunately, this length of deviation
higher altitudes for longer. Optimal descent is only the case for a small number of aircraft from the shortest
profiles have been designed for each aircraft so far. route.
type, allowing these aircraft to approach the
airport with the lowest possible level of engine DFS is also putting its support behind a new
power. website from the German Aviation Association
(BDL). Online for only a few months, this
There are other ways to reduce the noise website provides information on the strategies
level. DFS has introduced continuous descent and measures in place to reduce emissions in
operations (CDO) at all large airports where it aviation. Numerous projects at DFS can also
operates. In contrast to conventional approach be found, illustrated with up-to-date data and
procedures, which contain phases in which the graphics.
aircraft levels off, an aircraft using CDO glides
at the same rate of descent until it lands. This
uses less engine power, which reduces noise
and lowers fuel consumption. CDO can only be
used if certain conditions are met, however. The
traffic volume has to be low, for instance.
En-route flight efficiency
6 2.0
5.5 km
5 km
5 4.7 km 1.8
4.2 km
Deviation in km
4 km 3.9 km
3.8 km
Deviation in %
4 1.6
3.6 km
3 1,4
2 1.2
Source: DFS
1 1.0
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Deviation in km Deviation in %
The air traffic controllers at DFS guide the aircraft under their control to their destinations safely, punctually and by selecting
the most direct route possible. The deviation between the route assigned and the most direct route amounted to only
1.18 percent in 2017, which corresponds to a detour of less than four kilometres.
Mobility Report 2017 31DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung GmbH
Corporate Communications
Am DFS-Campus 10
63225 Langen
Germany
Telephone +49 (0)6103 707-4111
Fax +49 (0)6103 707-4196
E-mail info@dfs.de
Internet www.dfs.de
2 May 2018
Layout and design
bsmediengestaltung, Egelsbach, www.bsmediengestaltung.de
Text
Kim Maurus, Christopher Belz
Photos
DFS/Hans-Jürgen Koch (8, 22, 32)
Shutterstock (1, 3, 5, 12, 14, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30)
Fraport (8)
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