Frankfurt Visit Cost Airline, Local Businesses When German Authorities Shut Down City

Europe's second largest airline, Deutsche Lufthansa AG, is considering filing a lawsuit to seek redress for the losses it says it incurred due to President Bush's recent visit to Frankfurt. The airline had to cancel 92 flights scheduled to carry over 5,700 pax due to German authorities' decision to close Frankfurt Airport for several hours. Over 300 hours of delays also affected an additional 330 flights due to the well-known domino effect of unexpected airline delays.

In addition to Lufthansa, many other businesses were also seriously affected by the security lock downs. Traffic on the 24 km of the Rhine River, Europe's busiest waterway, was halted, as well as on 15 km of the River Main, a tributary of the Rhine. The BDB Inland Shipping Federation estimated that losses due to the closing of the waterways could be as high as 500 million Euros. "We have a lot of understanding for the security measures necessary," BDB President Heinz Hoffmann told Bloomberg, "but the complete closure to shipping of the very congested Main and Rhine rivers burdens the industry beyond measure and goes way too far."

Four highways leading into and out of the city were also closed for up to four hours, and the center of the city of Mainz, where Bush met with German Chancelor Gerhard Schroeder, was closed off, seriously damaging businesses in the area.

Hans Keller, a pharmacy owner in Mainz, told Bloomberg "Sales were awful. Bush's visit has caused economic damage to all businesses here in Mainz and nobody is going to compensate us."

The closure of the Frankfurt airport to all inbound and outbound flights was said to have been "ordered" by the US Secret Service two days before Bush's visit, even though they had previously told German authorities that such a measure would not be necessary. According to sources, the closing of the airport was needed to allow the convoy carrying President Bush to cross airport runways and take the shortest routes to and from their destination.

"Massive reference to the serious consequences this plan would have on flight operations failed to change [the Secret Service's] position," said a spokesperson for DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung GmbH, the company that operates the German air traffic control system.

FMI: www.lufthansa.com