Let me be clear: Germany is making things unnecessarily difficult for airlines (and the economy in general). Not because climate protection is wrong. But because we organize it in a way that’s too expensive, fragmented at the national level, and myopically focused.
Three examples every decision-maker should know.
1. Night flights in Frankfurt and Munich: Rules that sound good—but have brutal operational consequences.
In Frankfurt, an absolute ban on night flights has been in effect since 2011 from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. That may be a political goal. But one must also honestly admit: This is an operational disadvantage for hub logic, flight schedules, and connections—in a globally competitive market.
In Munich, the situation is even more acute: The night flight regulation (10:00 p.m.–6:00 a.m.) is enforced so strictly that an aircraft returning just a few minutes late cannot simply land—but is diverted. With knock-on effects: additional costs, additional emissions, additional strain on passengers and crews.
And that is the point that politicians often fail to understand: Rules are not just values. They are processes. Processes generate side effects.
Diversions due to curfews are not a green victory if they actually generate additional traffic. This is ideologically driven symbolic politics, not climate protection. (Moreover, noise emissions from modern aircraft have dropped dramatically by about 75% in the years since the strict rules were introduced, and a passing truck is louder than a landing plane.)
2. Taxes and fees: The admission is already contained in the resolution.
The air traffic tax was introduced—and increased—politically as a revenue-generating tool. Now it is to be reduced again to the level prior to May 2024, effective July 2026.
The fact that it needs to be lowered is the answer in itself: location costs had spiraled out of control. Added to this are rising EU ETS costs, expiring free allowances, and SAF quotas that do not affect everyone equally in global competition.
Climate policy without a competitive logic leads to traffic being diverted—and CO₂ not decreasing, but simply being generated elsewhere. Especially since it keeps coming to light how certificates are being abused. CO₂ certificate markets in their current form are often symbolic politics: Investigative reports by Die Zeit and The Guardian showed that 90% of the certificates held by the global market leader had no climate impact.
3. The right to strike and critical infrastructure: Collective bargaining autonomy yes – holding the location hostage no.
I respect collective bargaining autonomy. Period.
But when labor disputes in critical infrastructure chronically escalate—and strategic events like a 100-year anniversary are deliberately used as an ideological stage—then we must discuss new rules of the game or new legal frameworks.
And every union leader must be prepared to answer: How short-sighted are the demands, and what long-term consequences do they have for the company and Germany as a business location?
An anniversary is not a PR event. It is a defining moment. When employees say, of all times, “We’re not joining in the celebration”—that’s not a strike problem. It’s a test of culture. And culture is a matter of leadership.
What I consider worth discussing:
- More binding arbitration mechanisms before escalation in systemically important areas
- Clear rules of proportionality for chain strikes
- More transparency, so that perception and reality do not diverge permanently
Because in the end, it’s not the managers who pay. It’s business customers who pay, families on Easter vacation, small retailers, the middle class, tourists from abroad who get stranded here and will never book with Lufthansa again—and the business location. We’re further reinforcing the currently negative image of the German economy abroad.
4. And yet: Lufthansa isn’t just a victim. Culture is a matter of leadership.
Now for the part many companies don’t want to hear.
Even if location costs are high. Even if unions play hardball. An anniversary marked by a strike is also a management failure.
Not because every conflict can be talked away. But because an anniversary is an internal moment: identity, pride, belonging. When the shared narrative is torn, that’s exactly where you smell it first.
The uncomfortable question is: Which conflicts were managed for too long, until only pressure works?
5 phrases that should be hanging in every executive office today:
- Crisis communication doesn’t start with the press—it starts with the grapevine.
- Rules without an assessment of side effects are pure symbolic politics.
- Detours due to curfews can be noise protection—but they burden the climate and people more than they protect them.
- Critical transportation infrastructure must not regularly fail as a means of pressure.
- Those who merely reassure lose. Those who provide criteria, timelines, and solutions lead.
The Lufthansa strike on its 100th anniversary is not an isolated case. It is a mirror: location costs + conflict culture + leadership failures.
If Germany wants to remain competitive, politicians, companies, and unions must finally accept the same principle: Without sustainable rules of the game, no one wins in the end.
If you yourself are facing a collective bargaining or transformation conflict—or if your company has a symbolic deadline coming up: I can help you structure your communication in a way that demonstrates your ability to act—without adding fuel to the fire.
(First published on LinkedIn)