Aug. 19--BERLIN -- Half of the 1.1 million jobs in Germany's aviation industry are under acute threat as a result of the coronavirus crisis, an industry body said on Wednesday.
International passenger traffic abruptly collapsed in mid-March following the introduction of sweeping restrictions on people's movement, and the situation has only been slightly improving since then, the BDL aviation industry association said.
Air travel came to an almost complete halt in April and May, it noted.
The organization estimates that German airports were missing about 66 per cent of passengers in the first half of 2020, while ticket prices for the remaining flights were 9 per cent lower than in the same period last year.
The fallout on cargo operations was less severe, although capacity for transporting goods on passenger planes fell.
The volume transported fell by 15 per cent globally, the BDL said.
Germany's major cargo airports in Frankfurt, Leipzig and Cologne performed better, with a drop of only 10 per cent.
A number of struggling airlines worldwide, including Germany's flagship Lufthansa carrier, have been forced to rely on state bailouts for survival.
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