Kassel Airport: ghost flights and millions of losses - what now?

Kassel Airport: ghost flights and millions of losses - what now?

Kassel, Deutschland - The Kassel Airport (Kassel-Calden) fights with yawning emptiness in the high season. Despite the considerable investment of 280 million euros, the number of passengers is disappointing. In the season from June 28th to August 15th, only 35 flights are offered, while Düsseldorf Airport has an average of 403 flights every day and the Frankfurt Airport even recorded 590 flights. The Kassel Airport's departure hall has a capacity for up to 700,000 passengers a year, but in 2024 only 82,983 passengers were received. This shows the massive potential that remains unused because the airport is geographically favorable for travelers from North Hesse, Kassel, South-Lower Saxony, Eastern NRW and West-Thuringia. Another problem is the small number of known airlines that serve the airport, including Calden Sky Alps, Albastar and MHS Aviation.

The special travel situation of Kassel Airport can also be seen in the restricted travel offers: With only four fixed destinations - Palma de Mallorca, Bozen, Sylt and Usedom - as well as special trips to Rome, Cyprus and Barcelona outside of the summer vacation is limited.

financial challenges and state support

The Kassel Airport has written red numbers since its opening in 2013. To date, the total loss is around 60 million euros, last year alone, the losses were 5 million euros. However, the Hessian state government, as the largest shareholder in the airport, shows willingness to support. Finance Minister Alexander Lorz (CDU) emphasizes the importance of airport as an infrastructure project for the North Hessian economy and plans to continue to promote the airport in the election period from 2024 to 2029.

The coalition agreement of the new state government also provides for the passenger numbers to increase sustainable passenger numbers in the coming years. In 2023, 108,000 passengers were already counted, which approaches the pre-corona value of 121,000 passengers in 2019. In addition, improved traffic development, including a possible train connection to the ICE station in Kassel, is sought.

criticism and future prospects

Despite these perspectives, there are also critical voices that demand a downgrading of the airport to the traffic landing site. The shareholders of the airport - the state of Hesse, the city and the district of Kassel as well as the municipality of Calden - have to decide how to continue to deal with the financial losses.

The ADV traffic statistics provide information about developments in air traffic and offer information bases for the industry. It remains to be seen whether the planned measures from the coalition agreement and the support of the state government will be sufficient in order to help the Kassel airport new and activate the tourist potential of the region. Until then, the airport remains an example of the challenges in modern air traffic and infrastructure development in Germany.