After the end of the corona pandemic, employees of the federal ministries are increasingly using airplanes for business trips again – including within Germany. In 2023 they bought 6,574 tickets for domestic flights worth 1.9 million euros. That’s an increase of almost a quarter.
In 2022, employees of the ministries, the Chancellery, the Federal Press Office and the Minister of State for Culture booked 5,330 air trips within Germany; in 2021 there were 4,009.
International flights, for which there is usually no alternative train, also increased significantly again: from 16,136 in 2022 to 21,152 in 2023. Cost: 25.6 million euros. The Federal Ministry of the Interior announced this at the request of WELT AM SONNTAG.
Source: Infographic WELT
Domestically, one connection was particularly in demand: the one between Berlin and Bonn. Even 25 years after parliament and the government moved to Berlin, almost all ministries still have employees in the city on the Rhine, which is 480 kilometers to the west as the crow flies. In 2023, three out of four domestic tickets were on this route. Exactly there were 4916 tickets after 3946 a year earlier.
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While no one from the factions of the three traffic light parties wants to comment on the aviation swing between the old and new government headquarters, the opposition is not sparing with criticism.
“The increase in flights shows once again that the traffic light does not take climate protection very seriously when it comes to its own employees and the fact that they have to get to their destination as quickly and comfortably as possible. That’s hypocritical,” said Ulrich Lange, deputy leader of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group.
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You can’t bully people outside with new climate protection measures and do things differently yourself if it’s beneficial. Finally, employees could also commute between Berlin and Bonn on the climate-friendly train.
The extent to which ministry employees used the train is not recorded. The Federal Ministry of the Interior announced that no statements could be made about this. Comparative figures for flight activities in the pre-Corona period could not be provided for the narrow circle of users.
Stephan Brandner from the AfD parliamentary group is also bothered by the increased flight frequency. “While the government wants to tell us that the best way to do our errands is by bike and at most go on vacation by train, the government’s employees are treating themselves to more and more flights between Bonn and Berlin,” he said.
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It cannot be explained that the number of domestic flights is exploding so much, especially under a green government. “One would think that a self-proclaimed progress coalition and especially an FDP, which was actually committed to digitization, would be able to use the advantages of mobile communication and not have to be constantly flown back and forth “, he said.
In the Left Party people are equally offended by aviation. “During the pandemic, I became hopeful that the federal government would make progress with digitalization. But the federal government is falling back into old analog patterns,” said Gesine Lötzsch, the party’s top budget politician.
She would have expected a ban on domestic flights for civil servants, especially from a “progressive government”. “Perhaps Mr. Habeck in the government should implement Zoom instead of airplanes for civil servants,” said Lötzsch.
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The Ministry of the Interior justified the increase in domestic tickets since 2021 with the end of the Corona restrictions. “Despite the significant increase in meetings held in digital form, certain business transactions can only be carried out in person or personal contact is essential,” it said.
In addition, some business trips were postponed as part of the pandemic measures, which were made up for in 2022 and especially last year. The ministry made it clear that the government’s specifications as part of the “sustainability” program of measures would be taken into account when preparing business trips.
The program of measures, which was revised by the Grand Coalition in 2021, says to the administrative staff: “They are working to ensure that the train is used primarily for domestic business trips and business trips to neighboring countries (especially well-connected large cities). This should be taken into account In addition to business reasons, the compatibility of family/care and work.
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