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


New record for air traffic in Germany
The year 2017 was the busiest year in German airspace, with more than 3.2 m
controlled flights.
In 2017, the number of flights under
instrument flight rules (IFR) controlled in
German airspace was exactly 3,211,771. This
broke the record set in 2008. In 2017, growth
accelerated compared with the previous year,
with traffic volumes in Germany rising by
around 3.3 percent (2016: 2.6 percent). This
annual increase was again slightly lower than
the EU country average of 3.8 percent for the
year. We can see that the record achieved
in German airspace was primarily due to the
rise in air traffic in neighbouring countries.
According to EUROCONTROL data, around
9.6 million flights were controlled in the EU
Member States in 2017. About a third of these
flights came under the responsibility of DFS
and its air traffic controllers. The fact that the
traffic growth in Europe was higher than the
growth in Germany is reflected in the growing
share of overflights. At 38.6 percent, these
Air transport sector
­ illion
overflights make up the largest share of the flights
controlled in Germany. Entries to and exits from
German airspace each made up 25.7 percent of
IFR flights. The share of purely domestic traffic
declined again. Only 10 percent of the flights
took off from and landed on German territory in
2017 (2016: 10.5 percent). In 2017, the number 38.6
of take-offs and landings at the designated PERCENT
international airports in Germany increased by 1.6 of all flights in
percent. Leipzig Halle Airport had a particularly German airspace
good year in 2017. The second-largest cargo are overflights.
airport in the country benefitted from the rise in The number of such
freight traffic. In 2017, 7.3 percent more flights flights rose, while
took off from and landed in Leipzig. Nürnberg purely domestic
Airport also experienced a significant rise in flight flights declined.
movements (+7.2 percent). 
At the regional airports, the trend reversed a
little, following the slump seen in the previous
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

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
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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

0.0
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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

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 2017

 After 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

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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 11

 Air 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 2017

European 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 13

 Passengers 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
population travelled by aeroplane in 2017. The
International Air Transport Association (IATA)
reported that the number of airline passengers
rose to around 4.1 billion, breaking the record
77.6 high of 2016 (3.8 billion passengers). The number
of passenger kilometres went up correspondingly
PERCENT (number of passengers multiplied by kilometres
of all seats in flown). This figure rose by 7.6 percent over the
airliners are filled. previous year according to IATA.
Load factors
thus reached a A new record high in passenger numbers was
record high. also seen in Germany. According to the German
Federal Statistical Office, around 213 million
passengers used German airports in 2017, a
rise of 5.7 percent over 2016. As in previous
14 Mobility Report 2017
years, the rise in the number of passengers was
stronger than the rise in the number of flights.
This underlines that airlines are keeping a close
eye on the profitability of their routes and are
trying to use their capacity as efficiently as
possible. Load factors went up correspondingly.
They reached a record level according to the
German Federal Statistical Office, rising to 77.6
percent in 2017. This is 0.9 percentage points
more than in the record year of 2015.
This growth in traffic means that the busy skies
above Europe’s metropolitan areas continued to
get busier. The London metropolitan area has the
busiest airspace. The airports serving London
have an average 1,597 departures per day,
 putting 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 15

 Passengers 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 2017

The 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 17

Safety

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
with flying. Only every third person feels at ease
on board an aeroplane according to surveys. Two
thirds feel a greater or lesser sense of unease.
This feeling is completely misplaced. The figures
from 2017 released by IATA again show that
flying is an especially safe form of travel.
According to IATA, just under 42 million flights
were conducted worldwide in 2017 – carrying
more than four billion people. This corresponds
to more than half the world’s population. Around
the world, IATA registered 45 air accidents
with 19 deaths. The relationship between the
numbers makes one thing clear: the probability
of such an accident is minimal.

18 Mobility Report 2017

 This 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 19

 Safety

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 2017

 Infringements 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
evaluate infringements of separation that is applied
uniformly across Europe. It is called the Risk
Analysis Tool (RAT). This tool was introduced to
harmonise safety classifications so that the safety
levels of countries across Europe could be more
accurately compared with each other. While DFS
used to have a three-level system of severity, the
RAT tool uses a four-level system. It differentiates
between the categories: serious, major, significant
and no safety effect. DFS has been using this new
classification system since 2015. This means
that the values prior to this new system are not
comparable.
In 2017, 215 infringements of separation were
recorded in German airspace for 3.2 million
aircraft movements (2016: 174). DFS was a
contributing factor in 168 of these (2016: 137).
However, only a small percentage of these had an
appreciable effect on safety. Of these 168 cases,
137 had no influence on safety at all. Twenty-five
occurrences were classified as significant; four
were categorised as major and two as serious.
The number of infringements of separation in the
top three severity levels remained more or less
unchanged compared with the previous year (2016:
two serious, eight major, twenty-one significant).
This is an excellent level of performance given the
continued rise in traffic volume.

Mobility Report 2017 21

 Safety

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 2017

 As with infringements of separation, DFS
records and analyses all runway incursions
thoroughly regardless of whether the runway
incursion actually posed a threat to safety or not.
The new Risk Analysis Tool (RAT) in use across
Europe is also used for this purpose. In 2017, 101
runway incursions were recorded out of around
two million take-offs and landings at Germany's
designated international airports (2016: 115).
In more than 70 of these cases, the cockpit
crew contributed to the runway incursion. Air
traffic control was a contributing factor in only
eight cases. Four of these were classified as
safety-related. One was classified as significant
and three as major. Not even one incident
was categorised as serious. This means that
safety on the ground improved compared with
the previous year. Not only did the number of
runway incursions overall decline. The number
of incidents in the top three severity categories
also went down compared with 2016.

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 23

Safety

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
is unknown. After all, there is no mandatory
registration. Based on current sales volumes and
industry reports, the number will soon reach the
one-million mark. In 2017 alone, DFS estimates
that between 350,000 and 400,000 new drones
entered circulation.
Every new drone increases the risk of collision
between these small aircraft and manned
aircraft.  Last year, DFS recorded 88 cases

24 Mobility Report 2017

 when 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

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 25

Punctuality

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-
cated machine with many cogs that need to fit
smoothly together. It only takes a late connecting
flight, a shortage of gates or a thunderstorm to
cause the system to snag. No other mode of
transport is so dependent on the weather, for
instance. Given all these factors, it is almost
surprising that such a large number of flights
reach their destinations on time. In 2017, around
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.
It is mostly the knock-on effects of prior delays
that are the problem. These delays are often
caused by the wait for passengers, baggage or
new crew. An evaluation by the Central Office
for Delay Analysis (CODA), a EUROCONTROL
division, came to the conclusion that this reason
lay behind half of all delays. CODA based this
analysis on pilot reports. Their results show that
every second delay is attributable to the airlines.

26 Mobility Report 2017

 Punctuality 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

UK

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 27

 Punctuality

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

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 2017

Causes 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 29

Environment

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
under their control to their destinations safely
and punctually. They select the most direct
route feasible to be as environmentally friendly
as possible. This poses a difficult challenge in
an airspace as busy as the one above Germany.
With more than three million flight movements
per year and up to 10,000 flights per day, it is
simply impossible for every flight to reach its
destination without deviating slightly from the
shortest route. Evaluations, however, show that
DFS comes very close to providing the optimum
flight path. The average route flown by aircraft in
German airspace in 2017 was just 1.18 percent
longer than the most direct route. This
corresponds to a deviation of only 3.9 kilometres
per flight. The immediate vicinity of airports has
been left out of this assessment as, due to noise
abatement, the shortest possible route can often
not be used there.

30 Mobility Report 2017

 DFS developed arrival profiles that are
optimised vertically as a further measure to
benefit the environment. In a joint effort with
European partners and airlines, more than 30
approach procedures have been improved in
this way at numerous airports. These include
Basel, Berlin Tegel, Frankfurt, Geneva, Munich,
Stuttgart, Strasbourg, Vienna and Zurich. By
using improved procedures, aircraft remain at
higher altitudes for longer. Optimal descent
profiles have been designed for each aircraft
type, allowing these aircraft to approach the
airport with the lowest possible level of engine
power.
There are other ways to reduce the noise
level. DFS has introduced continuous descent
operations (CDO) at all large airports where it
operates. In contrast to conventional approach
procedures, which contain phases in which the
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.
DFS is always on the lookout for new ways
to lessen the noise impact of flight operations
for local residents. For example, a ground-
based augmentation system (GBAS) has been
installed at Frankfurt Airport. This enables
satellite-based approaches at a steeper angle,
1.18
reducing the noise for people who live below PERCENT
the approach paths. Aircraft, however, need to is the average
be equipped to use GBAS. Unfortunately, this length of deviation
is only the case for a small number of aircraft from the shortest
so far. route.
DFS is also putting its support behind a new
website from the German Aviation Association
(BDL). Online for only a few months, this
website provides information on the strategies
and measures in place to reduce emissions in
aviation. Numerous projects at DFS can also
be found, illustrated with up-to-date data and
graphics.

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 31

 DFS 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)

32 Mobility Report 2017