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ePaper created 2014-08-08, 11:09:35 | version 1.32.01
It is all the more important, then, that Frank- furt—the most important export and logistics location in Germany—not be further curtailed. This applies especially to restrictions on hours of operation. As global competition becomes ever more intense, the companies of the Lufthansa Group depend on competitive operating hours at their hubs. Frankfurt is already subject to the most severe operating restrictions of any major airport worldwide. Additional restrictions could further strengthen foreign competitors to the detriment of domes- tic airlines and, ultimately, to local economic value creation. If Frankfurt is to remain among the world’s most important hubs, the airport needs long-term, internationally competitive prospects. The airlines in the Lufthansa Group ensure jobs for tens of thousands of people in their home countries and are an important factor in the gross domestic product (GDP). They are a basic necessity for these countries’ export companies in particular. In Germany, for example, more than 73% of industrial companies ascribe an important or very important role to aviation, according to a survey conducted by the ifo Institute in March 2013 in which more than 7,000 companies were asked about the relative importance of aviation. The results are representative of the German economy. Of particular interest is the fact that those sectors that have been experi- encing above-average growth in Germany— such as mechanical engineering, the phar- maceutical industry, and the automotive industry—are precisely those that attach the greatest importance to having a first-class transportation link to the air travel system. The carrier is therefore of particular impor- tance to those economic sectors that have contributed substantially to growth and pros- perity in recent years. Industry’s gross value added amounts to approximately 23% of total value added in this country and around 15% in the EU as a whole. Ú Local value creation as exemplified by our Frankfurt hub Some 78,000 workers are employed at Frankfurt Airport, making it one of Germany’s largest local workplaces. Frankfurt is also the home airport of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, which, with more than 36,000 employees, is Hesse’s largest employer. Further jobs have been created at Frankfurt Airport thanks to the openings of the northwest runway on October 21, 2011, and the new Terminal A-Plus. Thus expansion of Frankfurt Airport has been a source of further economic growth. It also enhances the location’s attrac- tiveness to international companies and improves the local economy’s links to the international division of labor. With more than 58 million passengers and more than 2 million tonnes of cargo passing through it annually, Frankfurt Airport is a central hub for people and goods. Local value creation The major German air travel hubs are of immense macroeconomic impor- tance to all of Germany, where aviation plays a major economic role, and to its regions. Frankfurt Airport in particular, one of the world’s leading passen- ger and cargo hubs, is very important to the export-oriented German econ- omy and the entire German logistics industry by virtue of its central location. Moreover, the Lufthansa Group’s other hubs—Munich, Zurich, Vienna, and Brussels—each make an important contribution to local value creation. 40 // Sustainable Business Practice