Millions of grab regional airports: let them all fall out! (Opinion)

Have you ever flew from a so -called regional airport? No? No wonder. This is exactly what distinguishes these airports: they are hardly used. They are often kept on life by state subsidies in the millions, their deficit balance is enormously burdening the public funds.

This mismatch between effort and yield is not only economically questionable, but also socially problematic. The simple solution: set the operation and let the mini-airports fall.

There are currently 10 regional airports in Germany. This number fluctuates from year to year because the classification depends on the number of passengers. According to the EU definition, an airport with more than 200,000 and fewer than three million passengers per year must be classified as a regional airport.

Accordingly, this type of airports are among this:

On closer inspection, it quickly becomes clear that the existence of many of these “provincial slopes” is often no longer justified. The range of flights is very limited, ticket prices are often unattractive and the accessibility of the larger turnstile offers travelers significantly more advantages.

For comparison, a snapshot: A flight from Karlsruhe to Mallorca on May 1, 2025 costs 138 euros, from Stuttgart only 83 euros. Even those who live in Karlsruhe and still have to come to Stuttgart flies cheaper at the large airport.

When the first cheap airlines came up in Germany 20 years ago, they often settled at smaller airports. Frankfurt-Hahn was then and is still particularly popular today. The mini-airport is considered the airport with the lowest prices in the country.

And indeed: If you want to fly to Mallorca on May 1, you will only pay 75 euros from Frankfurt-Hahn. From Frankfurt am Main, the flight costs 228 euros. The reason: Since 2022, cheap providers Ryanair no longer flies from there, but only from Hahn.

What sounds like a good deal is deceptive. Because, as in Germany, Ryanair only uses the smaller and more remote airports abroad. In England, for example, you do not end up in London Heathrow, but in London Stansted. Madrid can only be reached via a stopover in Mallorca. Paris does not fly Ryanair from Hahn at all.

Vacation ends can only make a real bargain with a few travel destinations. In addition, there is the poorer accessibility of the airports – both in Germany and often abroad.

What also makes the sometimes cheap prices possible: regional airports require fees from the airlines, which often do not cover their own costs. Many mini-airports have been dependent on government support for many years. Almost none of these airports, including those privately owned, could do without government aid between 2016 and 2018, as one of the 2020s commissioned by the environmental organization BUND.

After deducting the subsidies, twelve of the 14 airports examined at that time had continued negative annual results. Supporting small airports with tax funds is a waste of money. In addition, only three of the locations would have a traffic policy benefit through the connection of their region to international air traffic. The remaining connections offered are almost without exception vacation flights.

The examiners therefore called for the immediate closure of half of the 14 regional airports.

The operation of many of the small German airports is absurd – and to close them would only be reasonable. The direct millions of subsidies and indirect financial advantages in billions of bills keep activities that are actually clinically dead.

The decision to handle many of the mini-airports is not only financially necessary, but also sensible with regard to a modern, sustainable transport policy. You should always get on a plane with a guilty conscience. When starting a provincial slope, that’s just not enough. Here you should just leave it.