Pilots: Leipzig is the safest German airport

Leipzig-Halle is the safest airport in Germany, according to the pilots' union Vereinigung Cockpit (VC). During their annual airport check, the pilots praised the exemplary lighting systems on the runways. This also includes all-day illuminated stop bars on the approaches to prevent collisions on the runways.

The catastrophic collision between two aircraft in Tokyo-Haneda at the beginning of 2024 is a warning example of such accidents. Although stop bars were in place there, they were defective at the time of the accident. Five people died on board a Coast Guard plane, while the crew and passengers of a Japan Airlines Airbus managed to escape the flaming inferno alive.

The previous leader, Munich, slipped to second place in the current evaluation because the stop bars there are not in operation all day. According to a VC spokesperson, it is a common problem at German airports that air traffic control usually only switches on the stop bars when visibility is poor.

All airports safe enough

In principle, VC believes that all German airports are safe enough for passenger flights. Compliance with and monitoring of international regulations is the responsibility of the supervisory authorities. However, there is almost always room for improvement when striving for the greatest possible safety. Among other things, the pilots are calling for fallback systems to be installed for the US GPS system, which is frequently disrupted as a result of geopolitical tensions such as the war in Ukraine.

Lübeck brings up the rear

Lübeck replaced Mannheim Airport at the bottom of the safety table. In the north, pilots disliked the fact that they were not invited to safety meetings. There were also no sufficiently paved open areas with a length of 300 meters at the ends of the runway.

The working group of the Vereinigung Cockpit pilots' union has been subjecting German commercial airports to an annual safety check since 1978. Later, regional airports were also included. Colleagues from Switzerland were also involved for the second time. The survey is based on a list of criteria that includes both international regulations and additional equipment that makes sense from a pilot's point of view. The methodology was changed slightly compared to the previous year because particularly effective safety precautions are weighted more heavily.