Leipzig/Halle Airport introduces a new structure for landing fees, including night surcharges
The new landing fee structure takes into consideration the departure weight of each aircraft type and the noise emissions using a sliding scale – and it includes a night surcharge for flights between 10 p.m. and 5:59 a.m.
Thanks to introducing a night surcharge as an additional component, the fees for using louder aircraft types will increase significantly. The sliding scale means that the increases will range between 50 and 369 percent, depending on the noise emissions from the planes in question.
If airlines use modern and therefore low-emissions aircraft, such as the Airbus A220 or A320neo, the fees will be reduced by four or two percent respectively. These aircraft types are used on passenger services, which may only operate in the period between 5:30 a.m. and 11:30 p.m. at Leipzig/Halle Airport.
The new landing fee structure creates incentives for airlines to operate flights during the daytime, if possible, and use more modern and therefore quieter planes.
Landing fees are used to maintain the infrastructure at an airport and are earmarked for a special purpose and cannot be freely used at will. The special purpose is regulated in Section 19b of the German Air Traffic Act. MFAG last revised its landing fees in 2019 and the company announced that it would revise its fees at Leipzig/Halle Airport again in 2021. In response to this, a new model was developed and was submitted to the Saxon State Ministry for Economic Affairs, Labour and Transport for approval in 2022.