Airports

Airports are subsidized in various ways. One form is investment subsidies, which are made as i) equity, ii) shareholder loans or by means of iii) guarantees. Another form are subsidies for running operations. They are often made in the form of i) the takeover of individual cost components (fire brigade, security services, air traffic control), ii) the waiver of interest and dividends for equity or iii) the assumption of losses. There is the following relationship between investment subsidies and the assumption of running losses: if the assumption of losses is not compensated for by annual compensation, the equity slowly melts away. This is then refilled from time to time by capital increases. A third form of subsidy is that burdened residents do not have to be compensated in a market-oriented manner (lack of internalization of negative external effects). Airport charges are the price for the use of airports. According to ICAO, they are to be cost-covering and must be approved in Germany. There are airports that waive cost-covering fees. The reduced fees are subsidies in the sense of the ICAO rules. While some airports generate adequate fees overall, they differentiate these fees in such a way that individual airlines are favored. This too can be seen as a subsidy; there may be distortions of competition that lead to a disadvantage for the general public. Noise-dependent fees are not generally levied at the level that would fully cover the negative external effects of air traffic. This represents a subsidy. Airport management is associated with the operation of units that have an adverse effect on the environment. The legislature has failed to set appropriate limits. Planning procedures often do not provide for adequate limits or compensation obligations of the airports. As a result, procedures are used that do not always take adequate account of environmental damage. The permission to do so represents a subsidy. The general public is burdened in favor of an economic enterprise.