The Association of German Airports held a two-day committee meeting earlier this week. During this meeting, the German government's policies were criticized. "Germany needs economically strong and sustainably positioned airports to guarantee the necessary connectivity to the global economic and trade networks. The continuing increase in the share of regulatory fees and charges is worrying. In Germany, this is 30 percent of an airline's total location costs. The current increase in the air traffic tax is causing the burden to grow further. The share of state taxes and charges has doubled compared to 2019, without the airports having any influence on this. Such serious additional burdens lead to a further loss of competitiveness and ultimately to a weakening of Germany as a business location. Germany is falling behind in the recovery and is at the bottom of the list in Europe. The recovery rate compared to the pre-Corona period is sometimes below 80 percent, while in our European neighboring countries air traffic has returned to old records," said ADV President Stefan Schulte. "For efficient and sustainable development, Germany's airports need the support of the federal and state governments. German airports must not continue to lose touch in the international competition for airlines and new connections. To this end, it is essential that funding commitments made are not withdrawn. Necessary investment decisions in the transformation process to climate neutrality are planned for years and cannot simply be revised. For Germany to be a future-proof aviation location, a triad of performance, economic efficiency and competitiveness is needed. On the one hand, the aviation industry will be burdened by the increase in the air traffic tax, but on the other hand, important future investments, such as purchase subsidies for electrified vehicles, the expansion of the charging infrastructure or