In a recent guest commentary, Frank Benz, who worked for many years as a flight attendant and in other roles at airlines before founding his own company, deals with the thorny subject of "state aid". Dear politicians, when will we taxpayers finally be able to have a say in how our money is burned? The airline industry is not having an easy time at the moment. New entry restrictions and restrictions every day make regular flight operations seem almost impossible. In addition, the unpredictable demand and the associated risks can represent a high financial risk for individual airlines. Many "system-relevant" carriers have already been able to rely on state aid - others did not receive it and had to cease flight operations. Personally, I cannot understand how some airlines manage state aid. A plane is specially wrapped for the airport opening or long-haul planes are repainted in the new CI after just 4 years "for technical reasons". I myself run a small company in the aviation sector, which has to generate revenue every day to pay employees and taxes - without being able to hope for any help from the state. I therefore admire every airline that has managed to stay in the air for years without state aid. SUNDAIR, for example, started flying in 2017 and has developed into a constant player in the charter and niche market over the last 3 years. In particular, the flights between Düsseldorf and Berlin to Beirut are now part of the core business of the German airline. However, due to the global restrictions, SUNDAIR was also required to stop flying with up to 7 Airbuses.