Prominent landings: Who visits the airfields in Donaueschingen?

Prominent landings: Who visits the airfields in Donaueschingen?

In the region around Donaueschingen and Neuhausen OB Eck, the airfields are in great demand, not only among business travelers and hobby pilots, but also with prominent guests. Formula 1 star Lewis Hamilton landed at Donaueschingen airfield before moving to Immendingen to the Daimler Test and Technology Center. Former Chancellor Angela Merkel also landed there in 2016 with a federal police helicopter to visit a company. Attention: Special security measures are required for large flights, as Tobias Lechner, the manager of the Neuhausen airfield, explains. Such prominent landings are the exception, but they show the relevance of these traffic routes in the region, as well as Schwaebische.de reported.

Agency of flight movements in Donaueschingen

The situation at Donaueschingen-Villingen airfield brings less pleasant news. A decline in flight movements was recorded for the first time in five years - a minus of 13.4 percent. However, Managing Director Eckhart Pauly reassures: "After five years, a correction of flight movements is not dramatic, similar developments can also be observed in other airfields." Despite the challenges, the airfield will have a profit of 89,000 euros this year, which stimulated the city representatives for discussion about reducing grants. Green parliamentary group spokesman Michael Blaurock expressed the proposal to shorten the annual grants by a third to take into account the city's tense budgetary situation, such as suedkurier.de reported.

Nevertheless, the airfield remains a central point of contact, not only for leisure aviators, but also for rescue flights and organ transports. Managing Director Pauly emphasizes the importance of the infrastructure and plans investments of almost 90,000 euros to improve the technical equipment and building substance, whereby the future renovation of the runway also remains in view. The income comes mainly from landing and handling charges, but also the increasing employee flights from the local companies contribute to the use of these most important traffic arteries.